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APPLETONS' POPULAR LIBRARY 

OF THE BEST AUTHORS. 



■♦«■»- 



A JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



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A 



JOUMEY TO KATMANDU 

(THE CAPITAL OF NEPAUL), )^'^ 



THE CAMP OF JUNG BAHADOOR ; 



INCLUDING 



A SKETCH OF THE NEPAULESE AMBASSADOR 
AT HOME. 

/ 
/ 

By LAURENCE OLIPHANT. 




NEW-YORK: 
D. APPLETON & COMPANY, 200 BROADWAY. 



M.DCCCLn. 



TO 

SIR ANTHOiNY OLIPHANT, C,B,, 

CHIEF JUSTICE OF CEYLON, 
THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED BY 

HIS AFFECTIONATE SON, 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



The interest wMcli was manifested in the 
Nepaulese Embassy during the short residence 
of Jung Bahadoor in England leads me to hope 
that a description of the romantic country and 
independent Court which he came to represent, 
as well as some account of his own previous 
eventful career, may not be unacceptable to the 
English Public — more especially as no work upon 
Nepaul has been published in this country, that 
I am aware of, since Dr. Hamilton's, which 
appeared about the year 1819. 

Through the kindness and friendship of the 
Nepaulese Ambassador, I was enabled to visit 
Katmandu under most favourable circumstances ; 
and during the journey thither in his company I 
had abundant opportunity of obtaining much 
interesting information, and of gaining an in- 
sight into the character of the people, and their 
mode of every-day life, for which a residence in 
camp was peculiarly favourable. 



Vlll PREFACE. 



In tlie Terai I wks fortunate enongh to wit- 
ness tlie Nepaulese mode of elepliant-catching, 
so totally unlike that of any other country, 
while the grand scale on which our hunting party 
was organised was equally novel. 

I therefore venture to submit this volume to 
the public, in the hope that the novelty of a por- 
tion of the matter contained in it will in some 
degree compensate for its manifold defects. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Arrival of Jung Bahadoor in Ceylon— Voyage to Calcutta— Rifle prac- 
tice on board the Atalanta— Rifle-shooting — Colonel Dhere Shun 
Shere— A Journey along the Grand Trunk Road of Bengal — The 
experimental railway — ^The explosion at Benares 13 

CHAPTER II. 

Benares — Cashmere Mull's house— The Chouk — The Bisheshwan tem- 
ple, and Maido Rai Minar — The Ambassador in Benares — A Rajah's ^ 
visit— The marriage of Jung Bahadoor — Review of the Nepaul 
Rifle Regiment— Benares College... 26 

CHAPTER III. 

Jaunpore — A shooting-party — Scenes in camp and on the march _^ 
—A Nepaulese dinner— Ghazipore— The Company's stud— Indian 
roads — Passage of the Gograh— Jung Bahadoor's mode of des- 
patching an alligator 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

A jticnic on the Nepaul frontier — A boar-hunt — The Terai and its 
resources— Our shooting quarters— Incidents of sport— A tiger- 
hunt — The great elephant exhibition of 1851— Camp Bechiacor. . i 49 

CHAPTER V. 

March to Hetowra— Cross the Cheriagotty Hills— Scenes of the war 
of 1815-16— Preparations for a wild elephant hunt— The herd in 
full cry— A breakneck country— Furious charges of wild ele- 
phants— The lost child— Return to camp u ...••'•••••... . 62 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PAGE 

March to Bhimphede — National defences — The Cheesapany pass — 
Lovely scr-nery — Night adventure — The watch-fire — Reception at 
camp — Arrival at Katmandu 76 



CHAPTER VII. 

The British residency — Houses at the temple of Pusputnath — Unprepos- 
sessing appearance of the Newar population — Their dress and 
characteristic features — Ghcrkas — Temple of Pusputnath — View 
from the hill above it — The temple of Bhood — Worshippers from 
Thibet and Chinese Tartary — Their singular and disgusting appear- 
toce — Striking scene in the grand square of the city of Katmandu. 88 

CHAPTER Vm. 

The Temple of Sumboonath — View from the platform of the temple — 
_^ , Taje valley of Nepaul and its resources— Tradition respecting it — 
Entrance of the Prime Minister into Katmandu — The two kings — A 
brilliant receptio a 101 

9 CHAPTER IX. 

Sketch of the career of His Excellency General Jung Bahadoor, 
Prime Minister of Nepaul , 114 

CHAPTER X. 

The titles of his Excellency General Jung Bahadoor Coomaranagee 
in England — Extraordinary notions of the British public on Indian 
affairs — Jung Bahadoor's conciliatory policy — Our unsuccessful at- 
tempt to penetrate beyond the permitted boundaries — Dangerous 
position of the Prime Minister— His philanthropic designs— Great 
opposition on the part of the Durbar— Native punishments— A 
Nepaulese chief justice— Jung's popularity with the peasantry and 
aimy 134 

CHAPTER XI. 

The temple of Balajee— The old Newar capital— Tlie houses and tem- 
ples of Patn— View from the city gates— Nepaulese festivals— The 
Newars skilful artisans— The arsenal— The magazine and cannon- 
foundry 150 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER XII. 

PAGE 

Kindness of the Mahila Sahib— His motive — Drawin!?-room orna- 
ments — Visit to the palace of Jung Bahadoor — A trophy of the 
London season — Grand Durbar at the reading of the Queen of 
England's letter — Dress of the officers— Review of troops — Danc- 
ing boys 162 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Distinguishing features of the races of Nepaul — The Giiorkas — Main- 
tenance of the Nepaul army — Beem Singh's monument — A feast at 
the minister's — We bid him adieu — Ascent of the Sheopoori — 
Magnificent view of the Himalayas from its summit 173 



CHAPTER XIV. 

A visit to the Minister's brothera — Dexterity of Colonel Dhere Shum 
Shere — Scenes for lovers of the Fancy — Adieu to Nepaul — The 
view from the summit of the Chandernagiri pass — The scenery of 
Nepaul— The pass of Bhimphede— Night quarters 186 



CHAPTER XV. 

A dilemma at Bisoleah — Ignominious exit from the Nepaul dominions 
—The res£Qij:£fia.and capabilitiea of Nepaul — Articles of import 
from Thibet and Chinese Tartary— A vision of the future 195 



CHAPTER Xri. 

Journey to Lucknow — Nocturnal disasters — View of the Himalayas 
— W^ild-beast fights — Banquet given by the King of Oudh — Grand 
display of fireworks— Om* return td cantonments 206 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A Lucknow Derby-day— Sights of the city— Grand Trunk Road to Del- 
hi—Delhi—The Coutub— Agra— The fort and Taj— The ruins of 
Futtehpore Secreh— A loquacious cicerone — A visit to the fort of 
Gwalior— The Mahratta Dmbar— Tiger-shooting on foot 216 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PAOK 

The carnival at Indore— Extraordinary scene in the palace of the Hoi- 
kar — A night at the caves of Ajunta — The caves of Ellora and for- 
tress of Doulatabad — The merits of a palkee — Reflections on the 
journey from Agra to Bombay — Adieu to India 232 



A 

JOURNEY TO KATMANDU, 



^•» 



CHAPTER I. 

Arrival of Jung Bahadoor in Ceylon — Voyage to Calcutta — ^Rifle practice 
on board the Atalanta — Rifle-shooting — Colonel Dhere Shun Shere — A 
Journey along the Grand Trunk Road of Bengal— The experimental 
railway — The explosion at Benares. 

TowAEDS the close of the year 1850 a consider- 
able sensation was created in the usually quiet 
town of Colombo by the arrival in Ceylon of His 
Excellency General Jung; Bahadoor, the Nepaul- 
ese Ambassador, on his return to Nepaul, bearing 
the letter of the Queen of England to the Rajah 
of that country. 

The accounts which had preceded him of the 
magnificence of the jewels with which his person 
was generally adorned, had raised expectations 
amongst the natives which were doomed to dis- 
appointment : intelligence had been received by 
Jung of the death of the Queen of Nepaul, and 
the whole Embassy was in deep mourning, so 



14 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

that their appearance on landing created no little 
astonishment, clad, as they all were, in spotless 
white, excepting their shoes, which were of black 
cloth — leather not being allowed to form part of 
the Xepaulese mourning costume. 

His Excellency had a careworn expression of 
countenance, which might have been caused either 
by the dissipation attendant upon the gaieties of 
his visit to London, by grief for his deceased 
Queen, or by sea-sickness dui^ing his recent stormy 
passage across the Gulf of Manaar. He had 
been visiting sundry Hindoo shrines, and it was 
for the purpose of worshipping at the temple of 
Ramiseram, which is situate on the island of that 
name, in the Gulf of Manaar, forming part of 
Adam's Bridge, that he touched at Colombo. 
Here I was fortunate enough to make his ac- 
quaintance, and, attracted by his glowing descrip- 
tion of sport in Nepaul, accepted an invitation 
to accompany him to tliat country, in order to 
judge of it for myself. 

So good an opportunity is indeed rarely afford- 
ed to a European of visiting Nepaul, and of in- 
specting the internal economy of its semi-barba- 
rous Court. I soon found that Jung Bahadoor 
excelled no less as a travelling companion than 
he had done as Premier and Ambassador. 

As doubts had arisen and some misapprehen- 
sion had prevailed in England as to his position 
in his own country, I was anxious to ascertain 
what was his real rank and how he would be re- 



JUNG BAIIADOOR IN CEYLON. 15 

ceived there. It was reported that he had risked 
his temporal welfare by quitting his country, 
while, in order that his eternal welfare should in 
no way be compromised by this bold and novel 
proceeding, he had obtained an express reserva- 
tion to be made in his favor at Benares, over- 
coming, by means of considerable presents, the 
scruples of a rapacious and not very conscientious 
priesthood. 

The ostensible object of the mission had refer- 
ence, as far as I could learn, to a portion of the 
Terai (a district lying upon the northern frontier 
of British India) which formerly belonged to 
Nepaul, and which was annexed by the Indian 
Government after the war of 1815-16 ; but it is 
probable that other motives than any so purely 
patriotic actuated the Prime Minister. His ob- 
servant and inquiring mind had long regarded 
the British power in India with wonder and ad- 
miration — sentiments almost unknown amongst 
the apathetic Orientals, who, for the most part, 
have become too much accustomed to the English 
to look upon them with the same feelings as are 
entertained towards them by the hardy and al- 
most savage race inhabiting the wild valleys of 
the Himalayas. 

But besides the wish to gratify his curiosity, 
there existed yet another incentive which induced 
him to undertake this expedition. The preca- 
rious nature of his high position in Nepaul urged 
on him the good policy, if not the necessity, of a 



16 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

visit to England, for he doubtless felt, and with 
good reason, that the native Durbar would be 
inclined to respect a man who had been honored 
with an interview with the Queen of so mighty a 
nation, and had had opportunities of securing the 
support of her government, should he ever be 
driven to seek its aid. 

***** 

The Atalanta, one of the oldest steam frigates 
in the Indian navy, had been placed at the disposal 
of His Excellency, and, upon the evening of the 
9th of December 1850, was lying in the Colombo 
Roads, getting up her steam as speedily as pos- 
sible, while I was uneasily perambulating the 
wooden jetty, which is all the little harbor can 
boast in the shape of a pier, endeavoring to in- 
duce some apathetic boatmen to row me over the 
bar, a pull of three miles, against a stiff breeze. 
It Avas bright moonlight, and the fire from the 
funnel of the old ship seemed rushing out more 
fast and furious in proportion as the boatmen 
became more drowsy and immovable ; finally they 
protested that it was an unheard-of proceeding 
for anybody to wish to go on board ship on such 
a night at such an hour, and insinuated that all 
verbal or pecuniary persuasions would be alike 
unavailing. It is very evident that Colombo 
l)oatmen are a thriving community ; still they 
seem a timid race, for upon my having recourse 
to threats containing fearful allusions, whicli 
there was not the remotest possibility of my be- 



VOYAGE TO CALCUTTA. l7 

ing able to carry into execution, a wonderful 
revolution was effected in the feelings of the 
sleepers around me ; tliey forthwith began to un- 
wind themselves from the linen wrappers in 
which natives always swathe themselves at night 
like so many hydropathic patients, and, convert- 
ing their recent sheets into turbans and waist- 
cloths, they got with many grumblings into a 
tub-like boat, just as the smoke from the steamer 
was becoming ominously black. Their eyes once 
open, the men went to work in good earnest, and 
an hour afterwards I had the satisfaction of 
walking the deck of the Atalanta, which was 
going at her utmost speed, some seven knots an 
hour. 

In the morning we were off Point de Galle, 
and put in there for General Jung Bahadoor, 
who, with some of his suite, had made the journey 
thither by land. 

All the world make voyages now-a-days ; and 
nobody thinks of describing a voyage to India 
any more than he would an excursion on the 
Thames, unless he is shipwrecked, or the vessel 
he is in is burnt and he escapes in an open boat, 
or has some such exciting incident to relate. 
We were unfortunate in these respects, but in 
our passengers we found much to interest and 
amuse us ; and as everything regarding the 
Nepaulese Ambassador is received with interest 
in England, a description of the proceedings of 
one day, as a sample of the ten we spent on 



18 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

board the "Atalanta," may not be altogether 
uninteresting. 

Time never seemed to hang heavy on the 
hands of the Minister Sahib, for that was his 
more ordinary appellation ; rifle practice was a 
daily occupation with him, and usually lasted 
two hours. Surrounded by those of his suite in 
whose peculiar department was the charge of the 
magnificent battery he had on "board, he used to 
take up his station on the poop, and the crack 
of the rifle was almost invariably followed by an 
exclamation of delight from some of his attend- 
ants, as the bottle, bobbing far astern, was sunk 
for ever, or the three strung, one below the 
other, from the end of the fore-yard-arm, were 
shattered by three successive bullets in almost 
the same number of seconds. Pistol practice 
succeeded that of the rifle, and the ace of hearts 
at 15 paces was a mark he rarely missed. 

Then the dogs were to be trained, and in a 
very peculiar manner ; a kid was dragged along 
the deck before the noses of two handsome stag 
hounds, who, little suspecting that a huge hunt- 
ing-whip was concealed in the folds of their 
master's dress, were unable to resist so tempting 
a victim and invariably made a rush upon it, a 
proceeding which brought down upon them the 
heavy thong of the Minister Sahib's whip in the 
most remorseless manner. That task accom- 
plished to liis satisfaction, and not being able to 
think of anything else wherewith to amuse him- 



COLONEL DHERE SIIUM SIIERE. 19 

self, it would occur to liim that his horse, having 
thrown out a splint from standing so long, ought 
to be physicked. He was accordingly made to 
swallow a quantity of raw brandy ! It was use- 
less to suggest any other mode of treatment, 
either of horse or dogs. The General laughed 
at my ignorance, and challenged me to a game 
of backgammon. Occasionally gymnastics or 
jumping were the order of the day, and he was 
so lithe and active that few could compete with 
him at either. 

While smoking his evening pipe he used to 
talk with delight of his visit to Europe, looking 
back with regret on the gaieties of the English 
and French capitals, and recounting with admi- 
ration the wonders of civilization he had seen in 
those cities. He was loudest in his praise of 
England. This may have arisen from a wish to 
gratify his auditory, and it certainly had that 
effect. He had not thought it necessary, how- 
ever, to perfect himself in the language of either 
country beyond a few of what he considered the 
more important phrases. His stock consisted 
chiefly of — How do you do ? — Yery well, thank 
you — Will you sit down ? — You are very pretty 
— which pithy sentences he used to rattle out 
with great volubility, fortunately not making an 
indiscriminate use of them. 

But my particular friend was the youngest of 
his two fat brothers, whose merits, alas ! were 
unknown in England, the more elevated position 



20 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

of the Minister SaMb monopolizing all the atten- 
tion of tlie lion-loving public. Colonel Dhere 
Shinn Sliere, such was his name, was the most 
jovial, light-hearted, and thoroughly unselfish 
being imaginable, brave as a lion, as recent 
events in Nepaul have proved, always anxious to 
please, and full of amusing conversation, which, 
however, from my limited knowledge of Hindos- 
tanee, I was unable fully to appreciate. 

It is considered a breach of hospitality to 
make invidious remarks affecting the character 
of the mansion in which you are a guest ; but 
although my recollections of the Atalanta are 
most aoTceable in reference to the kindness of 
the ofiicers, I must say she was a most indisput- 
able tub ; and if there is an individual who 
deserves to be turned slowly before the fires in 
her engine-room, so as to be kept in a state of 
perpetual blister, it is the Parsee contractor who 
furnished the provisions, for so meagre was the 
supply that we could barely satisfy the cravings 
of hunger. 

On the morning of the tenth day after leaving 
Ceylon we came in sight of the city of palaces, 
and, sweeping up its magnificent river, soon 
after anchored amidst a host of other shipping. 

Of Calcutta I need say nothing ; Chouringhee 
Road is almost as well known in these days of 
quick communication as Piccadilly ; this is not 
quite the case with towns in the interior : if it is 
easy to get to Calcutta, it is not so easy to get 



BENGAL TRAVELLING. 21 

beyond, and the means of locomotion by which 
the traveller makes the journey to Benares are 
of the most original nature. 

The morning of New Year's Day found me 
comfortably ensconced in a roomy carriage, built 
almost upon the model of an English stage-coach, 
in which, with my fellow-traveller, I had passed 
the night, and which was being dragged along 
at the rate of about four miles an h^ur by ten 
coolies, harnessed to it in what the well-meaning 
pTiilanthropist of Exeter Hall would call a most 
barbarous way. 

The road along which we were travelling in 
this extraordinary manner was not, as might be 
expected, impassable for horses ; on the contrary, 
it was an excellent macadamized and perfectly 
level road, denominated the Great Trunk Road 
of Bengal. 

The country through which this road led us 
was flat, stale, but not unprofitable, since on either 
side were paddy-fields extending ad infinitum^ 
studded here and there with clumps of palms. * 

The climate was delightful, and the morning 
air tempted us to uncoil ourselves from our 
night-wrappers, and take a brisk walk in the 
dust ; after which we mounted the coach-box, 
and devised sundry practical methods for acce- 
lerating our team, who however were equally in- 
genious in contriving to save themselves fatigue. 

The mid-day sun at last ridded them of their 
tormentors, and we once more betook ourselves 



22 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

to our comfortable beds in the interior of the 
conveyance, there to moralize over the barbarism 
of a man, calling himself an enlightened English- 
man, in employing men instead of horses to drag 
along two of his fellow-countrymen, who showed 
themselves even more dead to every feeling of 
humanity by the way in which they urged on 
their unfortunate fellow-creatures. These coolies 
were certainly very well paid, and need not have 
been so employed had they not chosen — for they 
had all applied for their several appointments — 
but then the ignominy of the thing ! 

And so we rolled lazily along, hoping to reach 
Benares some time within the next fortnight. 
Before dark we passed through Burdwan, where 
a few Bengal civilians vegetate on large salaries, 
to do the work of the rajah, who is still more 
highly paid not to interfere. He lives magnifi- 
cently in his palace, and they live magnificently 
in theirs. We arrived at a small rest-house at 
night, where we had the satisfaction of eating a 
fowl in cutlets an hour after it had been enjoy- 
ing the sweets of life. 

There is a considerable amount of enjoyment 
in suddenly coming to hills after you have for a 
long time seen nothing but fiat country — in first 
toiling up one and then bowling down the other 
side, at the imminent peril of the coolies' necks 
— in seeing streams when you have seen nothing 
but wells — in coming amidst wood and water and 
diversified scenery, when every mile that you 



EXPERIMENTAL RAILWAY. 23 

have travelled, for a week past lias been the same 
as the last. Such were our feelings as we woke 
at daylight one morning in the midst of the 
Rajmahal hills. 

There were a good many carts passing with 
coal from the Burdwan coal-mines ; moreover, we 
saw sticks, and from the top of each fluttered a 
little white flag, suggestive of a railway, where- 
by our present mode of conveyance would be 
knocked on the head, and all the poor coolies 
who were pushing us along would be put out of 
employ. Notwithstanding the disastrous results 
which must accrue, a railway is really contem- 
plated ; but I have heard doubts thrown out as to the 
present line being the best that could be obtain- 
ed. It is urged that it has to contend against 
water carriage — that, with the exception of the 
Burdwan mines, the coal of which is of an in- 
ferior quality, there is no mineral produce — that 
immense tracts of country through which it 
passes are totally uncultivated, and from a want 
of water will in all probability remain so — and 
It has been calculated that, even if the whole 
traffic at present passing along the great trunk 
road of Bengal was to become quadrupled, and 
if all the Bengal civilians were to travel up and 
down every day, and various rajahs to take ex- 
press trains once a week, it would not pay : all 
these things being considered, were it not that 
its merits and demerits have been maturely con- 
sidered by wiser, or at least better informed men 



24 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

than the passing travellers, one might have been 
inclined to think that those who expressed doubts 
regarding its success had some good foundation 
for them. 

However, it is better to have a railway on a 
doubtful line than none at all ; the shareholders 
are guaranteed 5 per cent., and the Government 
is rich and can afford to pay them. So let us 
wish success to the experimental railway, and 
hope that the means of transport may soon be 
more expeditious than they are at present. 

It will doubtless open out the resources of the 
country, though I cannot but think, for many 
reasons, that it would have been more judicious to 
have made the line from Allahabad to Delhi the 
commencement of the railway system in this part 
of India, instead of leaving it for a continuation 
of the line that is now being made. 

The bridges we passed over are all on the sus- 
pension principle, and do credit to the govern- 
ment ; the rivers are difficult to bridge in any 
other way, as the rains flood them to such an ex- 
tent that arches will not remain standing for any 
length of time. It took us two hours to cross 
the Soan, which we forded or ferried according 
as the streams between the sand-banks were deep 
or shallow. This large river is at times flooded 
to so great an extent that it is one of the most 
serious obstructions to the railway. 

It was not until the morning of the seventh 
day after leaving Calcutta that we found our- 



EXPLOSION AT BENARES. 25 

:li 

selves on the banks of the Ganges. The Holy City 
loomed large in the grey dawn of morning, with 
its tapering minarets barely discernible above it, 
looking like elongated ghosts. 

We were ferried across in a boat of antique 
constrnction, better suited for any other purpose 
than the one to which it was applied, and landed 
in the midst of the ruins caused by the dreadful 
explosion of gunpowder that had taken place the 
previous year : it had occasioned a fearful des- 
truction of property and loss of life, and many 
hair-breadth escapes were recounted to us. We 
were told, indeed, that two children, after being 
buried for five days, were dug out alive ; two 
officers were blown out of the window of an 
hotel, one of whom was uninjured, the other was 
only wounded by a splinter, whilst the Kitmutgar, 
who was drawing a cork close to them at the 
time, was killed on the spot. 

In the course of an hour after leaving this 
scene of desolation we reached the hospitable 
mansion which was destined to be our home dur- 
ing our s lort stay in Benares. 



26 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER II. 

Benares— Cashmere Mull's House— The Chouk— The Bisheshwan Temple, 
and Maido Rai Minar — Jung Bahadoor in Benares — A Rajah's visit— The 
marriage of Jung Bahadoor — Review of the Nepaul Ride Regiment- 
Benares College. 

Whatever may be said of the large salaries of 
tlie Bengal civilians, they certainly deserve great 
credit for the praiseworthy employment of their 
wealth ; and making amends as it were for the 
backwardness of India as regards hotels, they 
supply their places to the friendless traveller, in 
a way which our frigid friends at home might 
imitate with advantage. I look back upon my 
stay in Benares with the greatest pleasure, and 
shall long remember the kindness I there ex- 
perienced. 

There is much to be seen in the Holy City, 
and the means of locomotion which I should re- 
commend the sight-seer to adopt are Tom Johns, 
or chairs swung upon poles, with or without 
hoods, as the case may be. Upon arriving at 
the Chouk or Market-place, we hired two of 
these conveyances and started to see the resi- 
dence of Cashmere Mull. But first I must make 
an attempt, however unsuccessful, to describe the 
Chouk : it is a large square, studded with raised 



THE CHOUK. 27 



oblong platforms without walls, the roofs being 
supported by fluted Ionic columns. The Police 
Court, in which a Native magistrate presides, 
forms one side of the square. On the platforms 
sit the vendors of shawls, skull-caps, toys, shells, 
sugar-cane, and various other commodities ; but 
to enumerate the extraordinary diversity of goods 
exposed for sale, or to describe the Babel of 
tongues which confound the visitor as he wanders 
through the motley crowd, would be impossible. 

We turned out of the Chouk down a narrow 
street about three feet broad, gloomy from the 
height of the houses, and unpleasant from the 
great crowd and close atmosphere ; every now 
and then we got jammed into a corner by some 
Brahminee bull, who would insist upon standing 
across the street to eat the fine cauliflower he 
had just plundered from the stall of an unresist- 
ing greengrocer, and who, exercising the proud 
rights of citizenship, could only be politely coaxed 
to move his unwieldy carcase out of the way. 

We wended our way through pipe bazaars and 
vegetable bazaars, where each shopkeeper has a 
sort of stall, with about three feet frontage to 
the street, but of unknown depth, and a narrow 
balcony supported by carved wood-work over his 
head, out of the latticed windows of which bright 
eyes look down upon the passengers. Whenever 
there is a piece of wall not otherwise occupied 
in this compact and busy city, you see depicted, 
in gaudy colors, elephants rushing along with 



28 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

dislocated joints in hot pursuit of sedate parrots, 
or brilliant peacocks looking with calm com- 
posure upon camels going express, who must in- 
evitably crush them in their headlong career, but 
the vain birds, apparently taken up with admira- 
tion of their own tails, are blind to the impend- 
ing danger, thereby reading a good lesson both 
to the passers-by and to the shopkeepers opposite. 
Now a sudden jerk prevents you from further 
moralizing, as you find that you are going round 
a corner so sharp that you must get bumped 
either before or behind. There are ugly women 
carrying brass water-vessels, rich merchants on 
ponies, sirwahs on horses, here and there in the 
wider streets a camel or an elephant, but very 
seldom, as few streets would accommodate either 
of them ; finally there are chuprassies who dis- 
perse the crowd with their swords in a most 
peremptory manner, smiting everything indis- 
criminately, except the Brahminee bulls, which, 
although they are much the most serious impedi- 
ments, are left " alone in their glory." 

By the exertions of these city police we reached 
Cashmere Mull's house, noted as a specimen of 
antique Oriental architecture. 

The court-yard into which we were first ushered 
reminded me of an old English " hostelrie ;" it 
was small and uncovered, and round each story 
ran a curiously worked balcony, on to which 
opened doors and windows, carved with strange 
devices, and all the nooks and crannies formed 



CASHMERE MULl's HOUSE. 29 

by so much intricate carving were filled with 
dust and cobwebs. Passing up a narrow, dark, 
and steep stone stair, we reached a second court- 
yard, upon the balcony of which we emerged, 
and which was so very like the last, that I 
imagined it to be the same, until I remarked that 
it was smaller, and, if possible, more dirty. We 
thence ascended to the flat roof of the house, and 
on our way looked through half-open doors into 
dark dungeons of rooms, which one would not 
for the world have ventured into at night. 

There was a raised stage with steps up to it, 
which we ascended and found ourselves on a level 
with a great many similar stages on the tops of 
a great many similar houses. A stone parapet 
about 8 feet high, with beautiful open carving, 
enclosed this stage, so that we could inspect our 
neighbours through our stone screen with impu- 
nity. On the next roof to where we were was a 
boy training pigeons, and the numerous crates or 
frames on the surrounding house-tops showed 
this to be a favourite amusement. The young 
gentleman in question certainly made his flock 
obey him in a wonderful manner, his chief object 
being to take prisoner a pigeon from his neigh- 
bour's flock. He directed their gyrations by loud 
shrill cries, and, as there were numbers of other 
members of " Young Benares " employed in like 
manner, it seemed wonderful how he could re- 
cognize his pigeons, or they their master. 

Leaving this antique specimen of a nobleman's 



30 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

town house, we passed throiigli a maze of narrow 
streets ; and bobbing under low archways at the 
imminent peril of fracturing our skulls, we arriv- 
ed at the Bisheshwan Temple, which was crowded 
with Hindoos worshipping the Lingum, represen- 
tations of which met the eye in every direction. 

A well in the yard behind the temple was sur- 
rounded by worshippers of the god, who is sup- 
posed to have plunged down it and never to have 
come up again. If so, he must find the smell of 
decayed vegetation very oppressive, as garlands 
of flowers and handfuls of rice are continually 
being offered up, or rather down, to him. From 
this well we had a good view of the temple, 
which was covered with gold by Runjeet Singh, 
and presents a gorgeous and dazzling appear- 
ance. 

In close vicinity to this temple is a mosque 
built by Arungzebe to annoy the Hindoos. I as- 
cended the Maido Rai Minar or minaret, and 
from its giddy height had a magnificent pano- 
rama of the city and its environs, with the Gan- 
ges flowing majestically beneath, its left bank 
teeming with life, while the opposite bank seem- 
ed desolate. 

The observatory, or man mundil, is on the 
river's bank, and affords a pretty view from its 
terraces, which are covered with disks and semi- 
circles and magical figures cut in stone. 

Gopenate Dore Peshad is the great dealer in 
Benares embroidery, as well as its manufacturer. 



JUNG BAHADOOR IN BENARES. 31 

We paid Mm a visit and were delighted with 
tlie rich variety of embroidered goods which 
were displayed ; we saw pieces valued at from 
10,000 rupees downwards : magnificent smoking 
carpets, housings and trappings for horses, shawls, 
caps, kenkabs, and other articles of eastern at- 
tire, were spread out before us in gorgeous pro- 
fusion. After eating a cardamum, and touching 
with our pocket-handkerchief some cotton on 
which had been dropped otto of roses, we as- 
cended to the house-top, and found it built upon 
much the same plan as Cashmere Mull's, without 
its antique carving and quaint appearance. 

We were not a little glad when the bustle and 
heat attendant on so much sight-seeing was over, 
and we forced our way back through the crowd- 
ed streets. 

The population of Benares is estimated by Mr. 
Prinsep at nearly 200,000 ; its trade consists 
chiefly in sugar, saltpetre, indigo, opium, and em- 
broidered cloths ; besides which, the city has 
advantages in its position on the great river, 
making it, jointly with Mirzapore, the depot for 
the commerce of the Dukkum and interior of Hin- 
dostan. 

General Jung Bahadoor had reached Benares 
a few days before I arrived there, and I found 
him installed in a handsome house, the envy of 
all rajahs, the wonder of the natives, and the ad- 
miration of his own countrymen, some thousands 
of whom had come thus far to meet him. If he 



32 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

had been a lion in London, lie was not less an ob- 
ject of interest at Benares— Ms house was always 
crowded with visitors of high degree, Indian and 
European ; one old native rajah in particular was 
frequently to be seen in close conference with him ; 
and the result was, that the Prime Minister of 
Nepaul became the husband of the second daughter 
of his Highness the ex-Rajah of C< -org. Upon the 
day following his nuptials my fi lend and I called 
upon him, and to our surprise he offered to pre- 
sent us to his newly-wedded bride. We, of 
course, expressed our sense of the honour he was 
doing us ; and had just reached the balcony, the 
stairs leading up to which were on the outside of 
the house, when our friend the bridegroom per- 
ceived his father-in-law, the Coorg rajah, coming 
in a most dignified manner down the approach. 
Like a schoolboy caught in the master's orchard, 
he at once retreated and unceremoniously hurried 
us back — and just in time, for no doubt, if the 
old Coorg had detected him thus exhibiting his 
daughter the day after he had married her, he would 
have mightily disapproved of so improper a pro- 
ceeding. This incident shows how utterly Jung 
despised those prejudices Avhich enthralled his 
bigoted father-in-law. He was, in fact, the most 
European Oriental, if I may so speak, that I ever 
met with, and more thoroughly unaffected and 
unreserved in his communication Avith us than is 
the habit with eastern great men, who always 
seem afraid of compromising themselves by too 



A REGIMENTAL REVIEW. 33 

much condescension. An instance of this occur- 
red during another visit. * While we were chat- 
ting on indifferent subjects a native rajah was an- 
nounced, as being desirous of paying a visit of 
ceremony. Jung immediately stepped forward 
to receive him with much politeness. The rajah 
commenced apologising for not having called 
sooner, excusing himself on the plea of the pre- 
sent being the only auspicious hour which had 
been available since his Excellency's arrival ; 
a compliment which the latter returned by re- 
marking that it was unfortunate that his imme- 
diate departure would preclude the possibility of 
his returning his visit, which he the more regret- 
ted, as he was at present most particularly en- 
gaged in matters of a pressing nature with the 
English gentlemen, and he therefore hoped he 
would be excused thus abruptly, but unavoidably, 
terminating an interview which it would other- 
wise have given him the greatest pleasure to have 
prolonged. Thus saying, he politely rose and 
led the rajah in the most graceful manner to the 
front door, which was no sooner closed behind 
him than he returned, rubbing his hands with 
great glee, as he knowingly remarked, " That is 
the way to get over an interview with one of 
these natives." 

A detachment of a regiment had come to 
Benares to escort the General on his journey to 
Katmandu, and he accordingly determined to 



34 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

favour the inhabitants generally, and the English 
in particular, with a r^iew. 

The men were tall and well-made, and were 
dressed in a light-green uniform with yellow 
facings. They went through various evolutions 
with tolerable regularity ; but the performance 
which excited the most interest was the platoon 
exercise, no word of command being given, but 
everything done with the utmost precision at 
different notes of the music, the men beating time 
the whole while and giving a swaying motion to 
their bodies, which produced a most curious 
effect. The origin of this novel proceeding, his 
Excellency told us, was a request by the Ranee 
that some other means should be invented of 
putting the men through their exercises than by 
hoarse shouts, which grated upon her ear. The 
minister immediately substituted this more eu- 
phonious but less business-like method. 

At this review Jung Bahadoor and his brothers 
were dressed in the costume they wore when in 
England : the handsome diamonds in their 
turbans glittering in the sunshine. 

I accompanied him one day on a visit to the 
Benares college, a handsome building in process 
of erection by the Indian Government. The 
Gothic and Oriental styles of architecture are 
most happily combined, and there is an airiness 
about the building ; but this did not in any way 
detract from its solidity. The cost of the college 



BENARES COLLEGE. 35 

and professor's house is not to exceed £13,000 ; 
the length of the large school-room is 260 feet, 
its breadth 35 ; and there are six large class- 
rooms on each side. 



36 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER III. 

Jaunpore — A shooting-party — Scenes in camp and on the march — A 
Nepaulese dinner — Ghazipore — the Company's stud — Indian roads — 
Passage of the Gograh— Jung Bahadoor's mode of despatching an alli- 
gator. 

Being anxious to visit Jaunpore, I left Benares 
one evening after dinner, and accomplislied the 
distance, 36 miles, with one set of bearers, in 
seven hours and a half. 

The first object that attracts the eye of the 
traveller as he enters Jaunpore is the many- 
arched bridge thrown by the Mahometans over 
the Goomte, and considered the finest built by 
them in India ; on each side are stalls, in which 
sit the vendors of various wares, after the 
fashion of old London Bridge. On an island in 
the middle of the river was discovered a hus-e 
figure of a winged lion guarding an elephant, 
which would suggest some connexion with the 
sculptures found at Nineveh, and must date 
much further back than the erection of the 
bridge. 

Passing through a serai, which was filled with 
travellers, we reached the fort, built, it is sup- 
posed, by Khan Kan, or one of the kings of the 
Shirkee dynasty, about the year 1260. From 



JAUNPORE. 37 



one of its turrets we had a magnificent view of 
the town and the surrounding country, while 
immediately below is seen the river, spanned by 
the picturesque old bridge, unmoved by the 
fierce floods which so constantly destroy those 
arched bridges that have been erected in India 
by Europeans. 

The appearance of the town is diminished in 
size, but increased in beauty, by the many stately 
trees which are planted throughout it, Avhile 
here and there a huge screen of some musjid 
rears its Egyptian-looking crest, and gives to 
the town an appearance peculiar to itself ; Jaun- 
pore is, in fact, the only city in India in which 
this style of architecture prevails. 

On our way out of the fort we passed a mono- 
lithe, on which was an inscription in the same 
character as that on Ferozeshah's Lath at Delhi, 
which has been recently translated by Mr. 
Prinsep. In the main gateway were some 
porcelain slabs which had at one time formed 
part of a Jain temple. 

The Itala musjid, to which we next bent our 
steps, has been built on the site of one of these 
temples ; its cloisters remain untouched, and the 
figures on almost every slab bear undoubted 
testimony to the previous existence of a Jain 
temple on this spot. The large sq-uare rooms, 
which were filled during our visit with true 
believers, were curiously roofed ; a dome was 
ingeniously thrown over the square. An octa- 



38 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

gon, placed on solid buttresses, supported a 16- 
sided figure, whicli in its turn supported the 
dome. The Jumma musjid, which we also 
visited, was remarkable for its magnificent 
screen, 120 feet in height by TO in breadth, and 
covered with curious inscriptions and fantastic 
devices ; the top is slightly narrower than the 
base, tapering in depth as well as in breadth. 

The population of Jaunpore is about 35,000 ; 
there is a small European station near the town. 
In the course of the evening's drive I saw a 
specimen of the Addansonia or baobab-tree : the 
trunk, measuring 23 feet in circumference, was 
perfectly smooth and the branches were destitute 
of leaves. There are but five other specimens in 
India, and not many in Java, where the tree was 
discovered by Mr. Addanson ; it is said to have 
attained, in some instances, the enormous age of 
2000 years. 

Leaving Jaunpore about midnight, I reached 
the camp of Jung Bahadoor on the following 
day. The scene as we approached was in the 
highest degree picturesque ; 5000 Nepaulese were 
here collected, followers, in various capacities, 
of the Prime Minister, whose tents were pitched 
at a little distance from the grove of mango-trees 
which sheltered his army and retainers. On our 
arrival he Avas out shooting, so, mounting an 
elephant, we proceeded to join him. We heard 
such frequent reports of fire-arms that we fully 
expected to find excellent sport ; great was my 



^tmmat 



A SHOOTING-PARTY. 39 

disappointment, therefore, when I saw him sur- 
rounded by some 20 or 30 followers, who held 
umbrellas, loaded his guns, rushed to pick up the 
game, or looked on applaudingly while he steal- 
thily crept up to take a deliberate pot shot at 
some unlucky parrot or some bird that might 
catch his eye as it perched on a branch, or flut- 
tered unconsciously amongst the leaves. But 
the most interesting object in the group was the 
lately-wedded bride, who was seated in a howdah. 
Jung introduced her to me as " his beautiful 
Missis'' — a description she fully deserved. She 
was very handsome, and reflected much credit on 
the taste of the happy bridegroom, who seemed 
pleased when we expressed our approval of his 
choice. 

Before quitting the subject of Jung's shooting- 
party, I must remark, in justice to him as a 
sportsman, that he considers nothing less than 
a deer to be game at all. Tiger or rhinoceros 
shooting is his favorite sport, and he looks upon 
shooting a parrot, a snipe, a hawk, or a partridge 
as being equally unworthy of the name of sport, 
nor does he understand why some of those birds 
should be dignified with the name of " game,'' 
and the others not. 

At dawn on the following morning the stir 
and bustle in camp announced an early start, and 
our elephant appeared at the tent door just as 
the gallant rifle corps marched past, the band 
playing the " British Grenadiers." Mounting 



40 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

the elephant, we picked our way through the 
debris of the camp, now almost deserted ; some 
few of the coolies were still engaged packing the 
conical baskets which they carry on their backs, 
one strap passing over the forehead, and two 
others over the shoulders. The appearance of a 
hill coolie as he thus staggers along under his 
tremendous burden is singular enough, and so 
totally unlike that of the coolies of the plains, 
that it was a sort of promise of there being in 
store for us more curiosities, both of Nepaulese 
men and manners, in their native country, and 
we looked with no little interest upon the first 
specimens we had seen of the Newar race — the 
aborigines of Nepaul. Short and compact, the 
full development of their muscle bore evidence 
to their almost Herculean strength. Their flat 
noses, high cheek-bones, small eyes, and copper- 
colored complexion are unequivocal signs of a 
Mongolian origin, whilst the calves of their legs, 
which I never saw equalled in size, indicate the 
mountainous character of their country. 

Threading our way on our wary elephant 
through nearly 5000 of these singular-looking 
beings, all heavily loaded with the appurtenances 
of the camp, we soon overtook the cortege of the 
Minister and his brothers, which consisted of 
three or four carriages dragged along by coolies, 
over a road which, in many places, must have 
severely tried the carriage springs, as well as 
nearly dislocated the joints of Jung's " beautiful 



A MARCH. 41 



little Missis," whom I saw peeping out of one of 
the windows. The rest of this motley crowd, 
with which we were destined to march for the 
next three weeks, was made up of Nepaul gentle- 
men in various capacities, who car ered past on 
spirited little horses, or squatted c. 3ss-legged in 
the clumsy, oddly constructed " Ecce," a sort of 
native gig ; besides these, there were merchants 
and peddlers, who followed the camp as a matter 
of speculation. Amidst an indiscriminate horde, 
our elephant jogged lazily along, generally sur- 
rounded by eight or ten others, with whom we 
marched for company's sake. We usually arrived 
at the mango tope destined to be our camping- 
ground about ten o'clock in the morning, and 
lounged away the heat of the day in tents ; 
towards the afternoon Jung generally went out 
with his gun or rifle, shooting with the former at 
parrots at ten yards distance, and with the latter 
at bottles at a hundred. There was not much 
attraction for the sportsman throughout the 
whole line of march, and I only bagged a few 
couple of snipe, partridges, wild-duck, and quail. 
Our dinner was always supplied from Jung's 
own carpet, for he does not use a table, and it 
was with no little curiosity that at the end of the 
first day's march I looked forward to the pro- 
ductions of a Nepaul cuisine. We had not 
forgotten to provide ourselves with a sufficient 
stand-by in case it should not prove altogether 
palatable. Towards evening an enormous dish, 



42 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

containing rice enougli to have satisfied the 
whole of the gallant rifle corps, was brought into 
our tent, closely followed by about 20 little cups 
formed of leaves, one inside the other, each con- 
taining about a thimbleful of some exquisite con- 
diment ; also three or four saucers containing 
some cold gravy, of unpleasant color, in which 
floated about six minute particles of meat. 

Filling my plate with rice, which had been 
well and carefully greased to improve its flavor, 
and scientifically mixing the various other in- 
gredients therewith, I unhesitatingly launched a 
spoonful into my mouth, when I was severely 
punished for my temerity, and almost overcome 
by the detestable compound of tastes and smells 
that at once assailed both nose and palate : it 
was a pungent, sour, bitter, and particularly 
greasy mouthful ; but what chiefly astonished me, 
so much as to prevent my swallowing it for some 
time, was the perfume of Colonel Dhere Slium 
Shere, the fat brother, which I was immediately 
sensible of, as overpowering everything else. 
Not that I would for a moment wish to insinuate 
that it was a nasty smell ; on the contrary, it 
would have been delicious on a pocket-hand- 
kerchief; but to imagine it going down one's 
throat, in company with an immense amount of 
grease and gravy, was nearly enough to prevent 
its doing so at all. 

Our march to Ghazipore was through country 
richly cultivated and pleasing, if not absolutely 



THE company's STUD. 43 

pretty. The numerous poppy-plantations were 
evidence of our proximity to the head-quarters 
of one of the largest opium agencies in India. 
Ghazipore is approached by an avenue of hand- 
some trees, more ornamental than useful, seeing 
how utterly destructive it is to the permanent 
welfare of a road. 

The mausoleum, containing a monument to 
Lord Cornwallis, is solid but not imgraceful : 
upon one side of the monument are sculptured 
the figures of a Hindoo and a Mussulman, and 
on the other a British and a native grenadier, all 
of whom are weeping. The building is prettily 
situated near the bank of the Ganges, on a large 
plain or maidan, across which pleasant avenues 
lead in all directions ; the one which we followed 
brought us to the stables of the Company's stud, 
containing 700 horses. On our way we remarked 
a number of handsome houses now unoccupied 
and falling rapidly into decay, the military force 
at the station having of late been much reduced. 
The horses were being exercised, notwithstand- 
ing which they carried a good deal of superflu- 
ous fat, and vented their spirits by occasionally 
breaking loose, and dashing pellmell tlirouo-h 
rings of their companions, who, grudging them 
the sweets of liberty, made vigorous efforts to 
partake of them, and in some instances succeeded. 
I saw not less than eight at once dashing about 
in the large training enclosure. My friend 
having already bought three, we thought it best 



44 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

to withdraw ourselves from further temptation, 
and set out to join the camp at Cossimabad, 16 
miles distant, still passing through richly culti- 
vated country, which was as pretty as a dead 
level ever can be. 

The crops most generally reared are, sugar- 
cane, poppies, rare (a species of pulse), wheat 
often with a delicate border of blue-flowered 
jS^ax, tobacco, mustard, peas, and sometimes 
vetches. The large rose-gardens for which 
Ghazipore is celebrated lay to the right. I 
regretted that our way did not lead us through 
them, but we had evidence of their existence in 
some delicious otto of roses, which is easily pro- 
cured here. 

The road by which we were now travelling was 
what is called in India a cutcher-road, which 
means unmetalled. It is a pity that Govern- 
ment should spend so much in macadamizing 
roads, when cutcher-roads answer just as well 
for all the wants of native traf&c. The rocks 
here are of limestone formation, and conse- 
quently, as there is not much traffic on any road 
in India, if the trees were cut down, roads on a 
limestone formation would always keep them- 
selves in repair, provided the side drains were 
properly kept open. The bridges are all good, 
and, if the line of road was well bridged 
throughout, the country conveyances could 
always make their way along it witli perfect 
ease. If the money now spent in nuicadamizing 



PASSAGE OF THE GOGRAH. 45 

were spent in making the necessary bridges, the 
resources of the country Avould be much more 
fully opened out than they are at present ; a 
garre-waller, or cart-man, can always appreciate 
a bridge, never a macadamized road. At 
present the bridges on this road are all wooden, 
and liable to be carried away by the first heavy 
flood. 

The whole way to the frontier of Nepaul we 
travelled along a cutcher-road, accompanied by 
a train of at least a hundred hackerys, without 
the slightest inconvenience ; and until the style 
of cart at present used by the natives becomes 
wonderfully improved, this road may well be 
used, except of course during the rains. 

A few days' march brought us to the banks of 
the Gograh, a large river rising in the western 
Terai, and measuring, at the point where we 
crossed, at least half a mile in breadth. As we 
came upon the cliff overlooking the river, the 
scene was novel and amusing. As 5000 persons 
had to reach the opposite bank, and no prepara- 
tions had been made for their transit, the con- 
fusion may be eaisily imagined. The good- 
humour of the hillmen, however, was imperturb- 
able, and, though there was plenty of loud talk- 
ing, the remarks made were usually of a face- 
tious nature. 

The stream was rapid, and carried the boats 
down some distance. Ten elephants, with 
nothing visible but tlie tips of their trunks and 



46 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

the crowns of their heads, on which latter 
squatted the mahouts, made the passage gallantly. 
On the opposite side we passed through a village, 
the little square of which was absolutely filled 
with monkeys. They resort thither by hundreds 
from the neighbouring jungles to be fed by the 
villagers, and are most independent in their 
behaviour, unscrupulously attacking the man 
who brings their daily allowance, and, as they 
are accounted sacred, they are of course unmo- 
lested. We saw some serious fights amongst 
them, young and old mixing indiscriminately in 
the melee ; a mother was frequently seen making 
a rapid but orderly retreat with her young one 
on her back. 

We occasionally passed picturesque villages, 
the inhabitants of which were of course all 
attracted by so novel a spectacle. The system 
pursued by the villagers here is the same as may 
be observed in many parts of the Continent of 
Europe : they invariably congregate in a collec- 
tion of mud-built closely packed huts, showing a 
gregarious disposition, and great aversion to 
living alone. I do not remeyiber to have passed 
one solitary house. As the whole of the country 
is richly cultivated, the distance of their dwell- 
ings from the scene of their daily labour must in 
some instances be considerable. 

The Gandaki, over which we were ferried, is a 
large stream rising in Nepaul, and as broad as 
the Gograh. We went some distance up its 



DESPATCHING AN ALLIGATOR. 47 

banks, in the hopes of finding wild-pig, but were 
unsuccessful. 

The minister, however, being determined not 
to go home empty handed, doomed to destruction 
a huge alligator, unconsciously basking on a sand- 
bank. Accordingly, arming eight of us with 
double-barrelled rifles, he marched us in an or- 
derly manner to the bank, when, at a given signal, 
16 balls whistled through the air, arousing in a 
most unpleasant manner the monster from his 
mid-day slumbers, who plunged into the stream 
and disappeared almost instantaneously, and the 
Minister Sahib, coolly pulling out the wallet which 
contained his tifiin, remarked that we might pro- 
fitably employ ourselves in that way until he 
came up to breathe, when he should receive ano- 
ther dose. Retiring therefore a few yards from 
me — for a Hindoo may not eat in the presence 
of a Christian — he and his brothers were soon 
deep in the mysteries of curious viands. Per- 
ceiving, however, that I was not prepared for an 
alfresco luncheon, he shared with me some grapes, 
pomegranates, &c., as well as a piece of green- 
looking meat, which I found very delightfully 
scented. As we were in the middle of our re- 
past, our wounded friend showed his nose above 
the water, when he was immediately struck by a 
splendid shot from the minister, who was in no 
way disconcerted by having his mouth full at the 
time. Lashing the water furiously with his tail, 



48 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

the alligator once more disappeared : he came up 
shortly after, and the same scene was enacted 
three times before his huge form floated lifeless 
down the stream. 



AN INDIAN PICNIC. 49 



CHAPTER lY. 

A picnic on the Nepaul frontier — A boar-hunt — The Terai andits resources 
— Our shooting quarters — Incidents of sport — A tiger-hunt — The great 
elepliaut exhibition of 1851— Camp Bechiacor. 

Pitched under the shade of some wide-spreading 
mangoes are a variety of tents of all sizes, from 
the handsome and spacious marquee to the snug 
sleeping tent ; near them are picqueted a number 
of fine-looking Arab horses in prime condition, 
while the large barouche, which is standing close 
by, might have just emerged from a coach-house 
in a London mews ; a few servants are loitering 
about, and give life to this otherwise tranquil 
scene. 

Nobody can for an instant suppose that this is 
the camp of Jung Bahadoor ; his tents are green 
and red, and generally surrounded by soldiers ; 
his horses do not look so sleek and fresh as these ; 
he has not got a barouche belonging to him, far 
less a piano, and I think I hear the music of one 
proceeding from yonder large tent. — No — this is 
an Indian picnic — none of your scrambling, hur- 
ried pleasure parties to last for a wet day, when 
everybody brings his own food, and eats it un- 
comfortably with his fingers, with some leaves 
for a plate and an umbrella for a roof, and then 



50 JOTTRNEY TO KATMANDU. 



persuades himself and otliers that lie has been 
enjoying himself. Let such an one come and 
make trial of a deliberate, well-organized pic- 
nic of a fortnight's duration, such as the one now 
before us, with plenty of sport in the neighbour- 
hood, while the presence of the fair sex in camp 
renders the pleasures of the drawing-room doubly 
delightful after those of the chace. 

Boar-hunting, or, as it is commonly called, pig- 
sticking, is essentially an Indian sport, and I 
could not have partaken of it under more favour- 
able auspices than I did at Hirsede, when, hav- 
ing obtained intelligence of a wild boar, and 
having been supplied with steeds, some five or 
six of us proceeded in pursuit of the denizen of 
the jungles. We soon roused and pressed him 
closely through the fields of castor-oil and rare- 
cates. The thick stalks of the former often 
balked our aim. He received repeated thrusts 
notwithstanding, and charged three or four times 
viciously, slightly wounding my horse, and more 
severely that of one of my companions. After 
being mortally wounded, the brute unfortunately 
dodged into a thick jungle, where, hiding himself 
in the bushes, he baffled all our efforts to dis- 
lodge him. In their attempts to do so, however, 
the beaters turned out a fine young boar, who 
gave us a splendid run of upwards of a mile at 
top speed — for a pig is a much faster animal than 
his appearance indicates, and one would little 
imagine, as he scuttles along, that he could keep 



THE TERAI. 51 



a horse at full gallop. However, he soon became 
blown, and, no friendly patch of jungle being near 
for him to take refuge in, was quickly despatch- 
ed. 

Our revels having been kept up to a late hour, 
I left Hirsede in the small hours of the morning, 
and came up to Jung Bahadoor's cam]) on the 
Nepaul frontier. 

A small stream divides the Company's from the 
Nepaulese dominions, and on crossing it the 
change of government was at once obvious. The 
villages looked more wretched, the people more 
dirty, the country was almost totally uncultivat- 
ed, and nearly all traces of roads disappeared 
as we traversed the green sward of the Tcrai of 
Nepaul, scattered over which were large herds 
of cattle, grazing on the short grass, whicli 
extended in all directions over the vast expanse 
of flat country. 

This province is governed b}^ Krishna Baha- 
door, a younger brother of the prime minister, 
an active and energetic officer. Any complaint 
of the peasantry is in the first instance brought 
to his notice, and referred by him to his rother, 
if his decision does not give satisfaction. His 
subordinates are a sirdar, or judge, and several 
subahs, or collectors. 

The Terai is a long, narrow strip of terri- 
tory, extending for three hundred miles along 
the northern frontier of British India, and is 
about twenty miles in breadth. The whole tract 



52 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

is a dead level. For the first ten miles after 
crossing tlie frontier the country is used chiefly 
for grazing by the inhabitants of the adjoining 
British provinces, who drive thousands of cattle 
across the border, paying a considerable revenue 
to the Nepaul government for the privilege of so 
doing. 

Ten miles from the frontier commences the 
great saul forest, which is also ten miles in 
breadth. It is composed almost entirely of the 
valuable saul-tree and a great quantity of timber 
is annually exported to Calcutta down the Gan- 
daki, which is navigable to .the foot of the Cheri- 
agotty hills. The licence to fell the saul timber 
is confined exclusively to Nepaul merchants, and 
the payment demanded by Government for such 
permission is so enormous that the trade is not 
very profitable. 

The principal sources of revenue derived from 
this district are the land-tax and the receipts 
from the sale of licences for felling timber and 
for grazing cattle. The large amount thus re- 
ceived, together with the number of elephants 
which are annually caught in the great forest, 
renders the Terai a most valuable appendage to 
the Nepaul dominions. 

It is, however, entirely owing to the excellent 
management of Jung that the revenue of the Te- 
rai is now so considerable. In 1816 this province 
did not yield more than one-tenth its present 
revenue, which is now computed to amount to 



THE TERAI. 63 



fifty lacs (500,000/.). Still the Terai might be 
made yet more profitable. At present no use 
whatever is made of the hides and horns of the 
hundreds of head of cattle that die daily in this 
district, which are left to rot on the carcases of 
the beasts. It would remain to be proved how- 
ever whether, even if permission were granted 
by the Nepaul Government, any would be found 
possessing the capital or enterprise to engage in 
a speculation which would, unquestionably, ensure 
a handsome return. 

It is not, however, in a pecuniary point of 
view alone that the Terai is considered by the 
Nepaulese as contributing to the prosperity of 
their dominions ; it is looked upon as one of 
their chief safeguards against invasion. For 
nine or ten months a disease, denominated by the 
natives the " Ayul," renders the Terai impassable 
to man, so deadly are its efi'ects even to the natives 
of the country. It would appear that might be 
obviated — if we are to believe the native theory 
somewhat gravely recorded by Mr. Hamilton (who 
made a journey through this province with a 
mission sent by Government in 1803) by going 
in search of and killing certain serpents, which 
are said to poison the atmosphere with their 
breath. I should be inclined to recommend the 
cutting down of the jungle in preference to the cut- 
ting up of the serpents ; and I have little doubt 
that, were parts of the great forest cleared, and 
wide roads cut through it, it would cease to be so 



54 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

pestilential a locality as it is at present. In case 
of a war, there would be no difficulty, even now, 
in our troops possessing themselves of the whole 
territory to the foot of the Cheriagotty hills in 
the cold season ; but as we should have to main- 
tain some position throughout the year, the top 
of those hills themselves would be the only one 
available, and here, in the heart of an enemy's 
country, and cut off from all communication with 
India, the position of the garrison would be any- 
thing but enviable. 

I observed several of the natives of this dis- 
trict afflicted with goitre, and I was informed 
that cretinism was also prevalent, — a fact which 
proves clearly the fallacy of the old doctrine 
that these complaints are attributable to snow- 
water, for all the water drunk by the inhabitants 
of the Terai rises in the Cheriagotty hills, on 
which snow rarely if ever falls. This would be 
strongly corroborative of the correctness of the 
idea that malaria is the origin of goitre and 
cretinism, even if the experiment which lias been 
tried at Interlacken, of building a hospital on 
the hills, above the influence of the infectious 
atmosphere in the valley, had not proved com- 
pletely successful. 

The camp which was destined to be our head- 
quarters during a few days' shooting was pitched 
in the plain near the village. of Bisoleah, distant 
about two miles from the borders of the grand 
jungle. Its appearance was totally different 



SHOOTING QUARTERS. 55 

from those already described; two more regi- 
ments were here in attendance upon the Minis- 
ter ; the men were all comfortably lodged in 
grass huts got up for the occasion, and the innu- 
merable host of camp followers, who on the 
march had been contented with wrapping them- 
selves up in their thick cloths, and sleeping in 
groups round the various fires, were now engaged 
in erecting like temporary habitations, forming 
by these means a grass village of considerable 
extent. 

Horses, oxen, camels, elephants, were tethered 
in every direction, or wandering in search of 
sweeter tufts of grass. The village itself was 
close and dirty ; the largest house, which stood 
near a temple, was occupied by some half-dozen 
wives of the Minister, who had come to the bor- 
ders of their country to welcome home their lord 
and master. 

Our tents were pitched between the camp and 
a small clump of trees, near which upwards of 
300 elephants were tethered ; a stream divided 
us from them, the banks of which presented a 
continual scene of confusion, as men and animals, 
at all hours, passed along in crowds, while the 
motley groups, collecting as the Minister moved 
about to inspect various parts of his establish- 
ment, indicated the whereabouts of that great 
personage. The scene struck us as particularly 
novel and attractive when we arrived from Her- 
sede about mid-day ; as we approached from one 



56 JOITRKEY TO KATMANDU. 

direction, the Minister Sahib arrived from an- 
other, mounted in a handsome howdah, the tro- 
phy of the morning being a tiger which he had 
just killed, and which was lashed on to the ele- 
phant following him, while a hundred more 
hustled one another up the steep bank and 
throuuh the crowded street, 2:reatlY to tlie incon- 
venience of his dutiful subjects, who were salaam- 
ing vociferously, 

AVe immediately started in quest of like game, 
and commenced beating the heavy jungle, by 
which the plain was bounded as by a wall, but 
fortune did not smile upon our efibrts, and we 
only succeeded in killing a deer and a pig. I 
found my first experience in shooting from a 
howdah to be anything but agreeable : the deer 
bounds through the long grass as a rabbit would 
through turnips ; and, at the moment one catches 
a glimpse of his head, the elephant is sure to be 
going down a steep place, or stopping or going 
on suddenly, or trumpeting, or doing something 
which completely balks a sportsman accustomed 
to be on his own legs, and sends the ball flying 
in any direction but the right one. Our line of 
elephants consisted of upwards of one hundred, 
and they beat regularly and silently enough, ex- 
cept when the behavior of one of them irritated 
some passionate mahout, who would vent his 
wrath upon the head of the animal by a blow 
from a short iron rod. or would catch him sharply 
under the ear with a huge hook, wliich he dexte- 



HUNTING SCENES. SV 



rously applied to a sore kept open for that pur- 
pose ; then a loud roar of pain would sound 
through the jungle for a moment, much to our 
disgust, as it startled the deer we were silently 
and gradually approaching. 

The pig, which formed part of the game-bag 
of the afternoon, was, in the first instance, only 
severely wounded, and an elephant was com- 
manded to finish the poor brute ; as he lay, 
grimly surveying us, his glistening tusks looked 
rather formidable, — so at least the elephant 
seemed to think, as for some time he strongly 
objected to approach him. At last he went 
timidly up and gave the boar a severe kick with 
his fore-foot, drawing it back quickly with a 
significant grunt, which plainly intimated his 
opinion that he had done as much as could rea- 
sonably be expected of him. His mahout, how- 
ever, thought otherwise, and by dint of severe 
irritation on the sore behind his ear, seemed to 
drive him to desperation, as the elephant sud- 
denly backed upon the pig, and, getting him 
between his hind legs, ground them together, 
and absolutely broke him up. After this we 
went crashing home, regardless of the thick 
jungle through which we passed, as the impend- 
ing boughs were snapped, at the word of the 
mahouts, by the obedient and sagacious animals 
they bestrode. 

Daybreak of the 30th of January found us not 
foot in stirrup, but foot on ladder, for we were 

3* 



58 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

mounting onr elephants to proceed in searcli of 
the monarch of the Indian jungles, intelligence 
of the lair of a male and female having been 
brought into camp overnight. A hundred ele- 
phants followed in a line, forming a picturesque 
procession, towards the long grass jungle in 
which our noble game was reported to be en- 
sconced. On reaching the scene of action we 
formed into a line and beat regularly the whole 
length of the patch. We were not destined to 
wait long, and the crack of my friend's rifle soon 
sounded in my ears. He had wounded the tiger 
severely, and the animal had again disappeared 
in the long grass. We were now on the alert, as 
it was impossible he could escape us ; and in a 
few moments I had the satisfaction of seeing him 
bounding through the grass at about thirty yards' 
distance. The report of my rifle was quickly 
followed by three more shots as he passed down 
the line, and he fell dead at the feet of the Minis- 
ter, with five balls in his body. 

In the evening, after our return from a good 
day's sport, we paid Jung Bahadoor a visit in 
his tent, and went with him to see the elephants 
which had been caught for the service of the 
Government during his year's absence from the 
country. In a square enclosure were upwards 
of two hundred elephants of all sorts and sizes. 
Here might be seen an elephant fastened between 
two others, and kept quiet only by being dragged 
continually in two different directions at once, 



ELEPHANT EXHIBITION. 59 

no mahout having yet ventured to mount him ; 
while, in evident terror at her proximity to such 
a monster, stood an anxious mother performing 
maternal duties to a young one not much larger 
than a calf, who was in no way puzzled by the 
position of the udder between her fore-legs, but 
by a dexterous use of his trunk helped himself in 
a manner wonderfully precocious for so young a 
baby ; indeed, he seemed very much pleased with 
having a trunk to play with, and certainly had a 
great advantage over most babies in possessing 
so permanent a plaything. Behind this interest- 
ing party stood a large elephant, with huge tusks, 
which had been chiefly instrumental in the cap- 
ture of the victims he was now grimly surveying 
at a considerable distance, it not being safe to 
let him approach too near, as he seemed to be 
under th^ delusion that every elephant he saw 
still required to be caught. Each mahout now 
brought forward the prizes he had captured since 
the commencement of the year, and they were 
severally inspected : those which had no tufts of 
hair at the tips of their tails, or were in any 
way deformed, were put aside to be sold to un- 
wary purchasers in India ; while those approved 
by his Excellency were reserved for the use of 
government, or, to speak in plainer language, for 
his shooting parties. 

As I do not know the points of an elephant as 
well as those of a horse, the want of the tuft was 
the only mark I could distinguish. However, 



60 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



the science of elephant-flesh seemed to be as deep 
and fall of mysteries as that of horse-flesh. 

Having finished our inspection, and the pay of 
an unsuccessful mahout or two having been stop- 
ped, Jung entered into a long disquisition upon 
the subject of the wild sports of the Terai. He 
told us, amongst other things, that he had forbid- 
den all deer-shooting here, although the revenue 
to Government upon the skins amounted to 400/. 
or 500/. a year, in order that he might enjoy bet- 
ter shooting. Of course, we praised the love of 
sport which could prompt such an order, and said 
nothing of the love of country which might per- 
haps have prevented it. I was often struck by 
the despotic tone which the prime minister as- 
sumed, and it only confirmed my previous opi- 
nion as to his substantially possessing the sove- 
reign power. 

We killed five or six more deer and pigs before 
quitting Bisoleah on the following day, our road 
to Bechiacor leading us through the great forest, 
at this season perfectly healthy. We found our 
camp pitched in the broad dry bed of a moun- 
tain torrent, which I observed to be filled with 
fragments of granite and micacious schist. 

As the shades of evening closed in upon the 
valley, the scene became exti-emely interesting : 
high upon the hill sides, — for we had reached 
the base of the Cheriagotty hills, — groups of 
natives, crouching round their fires, were shelter- 
ed only by grass huts, the labour of an hour. 



CAMP BEGHIACOR. 61 



While lights twinkled in the minister's camp, 
soldiers were gathered round their watch-fires, 
and the villagers were assembled near a huge 
crackling blaze to witness so unusual, and to 
them so exciting a scene, as 5000 souls encamped 
in their solitary valley. 



62 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER V. 

March to Hetowra — Cross the Cheriagotty Hills — Scenes of the war of 
1815-16 — Preparations for a wild elephant hunt — The herd in full cry — 
A breakneck country— Furious charges of wUd elephants — The lost 
child — Return to camp. 

Early or tlie following morning we were on the 
marcli, and for five miles did our clumsy elephant 
trip it heavily over the large stones forming the 
bed of the stream in which Ave had been encamp- 
ed the previous night. I fear the beauty of the 
scenery did not so well compensate him for the 
badness of the road as his more fortunate riders. 
To see a hill at a distance after having travelled 
so lono' over a dead level was refreshins: : but 
when we began to wind round the base of preci- 
pitous cliffs, or clamber up some romantic moun- 
tain pass, the effect was most animating. 

The cliffs which now frowned over us were 
about 500 feet in height ; a few larches crown- 
ing the summit indicated the elevation of the 
country^ and almost reminded us of home, until 
some monkeys swinging about amongst the 
branches at once dispelled the illusion. 

The hills themselves consist entirely of clay 
mixed with sandstone, mica, and gravel ; and 
the effect of the mountain torrents during the 



^mmttm 



MARCH TO HETOWRA. 63 

rainy season upon such soft material had been to 
form precipitous gullies, along Tvhicli we were 
now passing, while the grotesque pinnacles 
which constantly met the eye reminded us of 
the dolomite formation of the Tyrol. In many 
places were strata, sometimes horizontal, but 
more frequently inclined at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees, consisting of limestone, horn- 
stone, and conglomerate. 

This range is called by Hodgson the sandstone 
range ; it does not rise more than 600 feet from 
its immediate base, its elevation above the sea 
being about 3000 feet. The pass itself, by which 
we crossed the Cheriagotty hills, was a mere 
water-course, sometimes so narrow that the 
banks on each side might be touched from the 
back of the elephant, and so steep and rocky 
that, both in ascending and descending into the 
dry bed of a torrent, the animal found no little 
difficulty in keeping his footing. 

It was in this place that some of the severest 
fighting took place in 1816 during the Nepaulese 
war. Commanded by the surrounding heights 
and crowned by the temporary stockades of the 
Ghorkas, it was a dangerous and formidable 
obstacle to the progress of our army ; but the 
able tactics of Sir David Ochterlony successfully 
overcame it. In the very watercourse we were 
now traversing the carcase of a dead elephant 
had, on one occasion during that campaign, 
fallen in such a manner as effectually to block 



64 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



up the way ; and so narrow is tlie path, and so 
steep the banks on each side, that the army was 
absolutely delayed some time until this cumbrous 
impediment was removed. 

After descending into the bed of the Chyria 
Nuddee our road lay through the saul forest, the 
magnificent trees of which served as a grateful 
shade for some miles, while, the road being com- 
paratively level and free from impediments, our 
journey was most agreeable. A short distance 
from our destination we crossed the Kurroo 
Nuddee, by a picturesque wooden bridge peculiar 
to the Himalayas. 

Hetowra is a place of considerable importance 
in a mercantile point of view, but it is not gay 
except during the season ; it is, in fact, fashion- 
able only while it is healthy. From this place 
two roads lead to Katmandu. The whole of our 
week's stay in the Terai was rendered interest- 
ing to us from the recollection that in this pro- 
vince originated a war as disastrous to our 
troops as it was unprovoked by us. Xevcr in 
our eastern experience have we commenced 
hostilities with a native power upon more justifi- 
able grounds, and seldom have Ave paid more 
dearly for the satisfaction of at last dictating 
terms, from which indeed we have since reaped 
no great advantage. At Persa, but a short dis- 
tance from Bisoleah, Captain Sibley and his 
detachment fell into the hands of the enemy, 
losing two guns and three-fourths of his men. 



SCENES OF THE WAR OF 1815-16. C5 

Major-General Gillespie fell at the storming of 
Kalunga, while gallantly cheering on his men ; 
our casualties here amounting to 225, twenty of 
whom were officers. Beaten back on this occa- 
sion, we were no less unsuccessful in a second 
attempt, losing in killed and wounded 483 men, 
including eleven officers. It was only when 
General Ochterlony assumed the command that 
affairs began to wear a brighter aspect. The 
energy and ability of this officer were displayed 
in a series of operations which daunted the 
enemy in proportion as they inspired confidence 
amongst our own ranks, and the result of the 
campaign was the expulsion of the Ghorkas 
from a large tract of country, which was subse- 
quently annexed to British India. Attempts at 
negotiation were then made, which ultimately 
proved futile, and after the usual amount of 
delay, specious professions, and deceit common 
to native Courts generally had been practised 
by the Nepaul Durbar with a view to gain time, 
open hostilities broke out with redoubled vigour 
on both sides." General Ochterlony assumed the 
command of an army of 36,000 men and com- 
menced the campaign by moving the main body 
at once across the Cheriagotty hills, an opera- 
tion involving incredible toil and difficulty, but 
which was, nevertheless, performed with the 
greatest rapidity. From Hetowra he advanced 
upon Muckwanpore, which, after two engage- 
ments, fell into his hands, our loss amounting to 



66 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

nearly 300. This fort commands the valley of 
Katmandu, and the Durbar therefore thought it 
advisable to treat as speedily as possible. The 
terms which were finally agreed upon differed 
little from those proposed on the former occa- 
sion, leaving in our hands a portion of the Terai, 
and, what was more important, giving the 
Ghorkas a more correct notion of the enemy 
they had to deal with than they had gained from 
their experience in the first campaign. 

We found our camp prettily situated at the 
village of Hetowra, on the Rapti, surrounded by 
hills clothed to their summits with evergreen 
jungle not unlike those I had lately left in 
Ceylon. 

The Minister Sahib, having received informa- 
tion that a herd of wild elephants were in the 
neighbourhood, paid us a visit immediately on 
our arrival at camp, in a great state of excite- 
ment, and enjoined on us the necessity of an 
early start if we wished to partake of a sport 
which he promised would exceed anything we 
had ever witnessed, and prove such as no Euro- 
pean had ever before had an opportunity of 
joining in. 

I was aroused about 3 on the following morn- 
ing, by the tune of the ' British Grenadiers,' 
played by the bands of the two regiments, which 
marched past my tent on their way to beat the 
jungle, and I wondered whether its composer 
ever imagined that its inspiriting effects would 



PREPARATIONS FOR A HUNT. 67 

be exercised upon men bound on so singular a 
duty as those whose tramp we now heard becom- 
ing fainter and fainter as they wound up the 
valley. This was a signal for us to abandon our 
mattresses, which were always spread on the 
ground, in default of a four-poster, but were none 
the less comfortable or fascinating to their 
drowsy occupants on that account. It was 
necessary to make such a morning's meal as 
should be sufficient to last for 24 hours. This 
was rather a difficult matter at that early hour, 
as we had eaten a large dinner over-night ; how- 
ever, we accomplished it to the best of our 
power, and, jumping into our howdah, soon over- 
took Jung, whom we accompanied to what was 
to be the scene of action, a thick saul jungle on 
the banks of the Curroo Nuddee, here a con- 
siderable stream. 

Down a hill before us, and by a particular 
pass, the wild elephants were to be driven by 
the united efforts of the gallant rifle corps, a 
regiment of infantry, and a hundred elephants ; 
while our party, which comprised an equal 
number of these animals, was prepared to receive 
their brethren of the woods. 

Our patience as sportsmen was destined to be 
severely tried, and mid-day came without any 
elephants having made their appearance : we 
therefore lit a huge fire, and, dismounting, par- 
took with Jung of some very nice sweet biscuits 
and various specimens of native confectionery, 



68 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

declining the green-looking mutton which was 
kindly pressed npon us. Had the elephants 
chosen that moment to come down upon us, a 
curious scene must have ensued : Jung's grapes 
would have gone one way and his curry-powder 
the other — he was eating grapes and curry- 
powder at the time ; and his brother, who was 
toasting a large piece of mutton on a reed, must 
have either burnt his mouth or lost the precious 
morsel : however, the elephants did not come, so 
Jung finished his grapes and curry-powder, and 
his brother waited till the mutton was cool, ate 
it in peace, and went through the necessary 
ablutions. He then gave me a lesson in cutting 
down trees with a kukri, a sort of bill-hook, in 
the use of which the Nepanlese are peculiarly 
expert. The Minister Sahib at one stroke cut 
through a saul-tree which was 13 inches in cir- 
cumference, while sundry unsuccessful attempts 
which I made on very small branches created 
great amusement among the by-standers skilled 
in the use of the weapon. 

At last a dropping shot or two were heard in 
the distance : this was the signal of the approach 
of the herd, and I was put by the minister 
through the exercises necessary to be acquired 
before commencing the novel chace. 

Taking off my shoes and tying a towel round 
my head, I was told to suppose an immenso 
branch to be in front of me, and was taught to 
escape its sweeping effects by sliding down the 



PREPARING FOR A HUNT. 69 

crupper of the elephant, and keeping the whole 
of my body below the level of his back, thus 
allowing the branch to pass within an inch 
above it without touching me. In the same man- 
ner, upon a branch threatening me from the right 
or left, it was necessary to throw myself on the 
opposite side, hanging only by my hands, and 
swinging myself into my original position by a 
most violent exertion, which required at the 
same time considerable knack. Having perfect- 
ed myself in these accomplishments to the utmost 
of my power, I awaited in patience the arrival 
of the elepha :its. 

Lookiug round, I saw Jung himself, seated in 
the place of the mahout, guiding the elephant 
which he bestrode very cleverly. When silence 
was required he made a peculiar clucking noise 
with his tongue ; whereupon these docile crea- 
tures immediately became still and motionless : 
one would drop the tuft of grass which he was 
tearing up, another would stop instantly from 
shaking the dust out of tluj roots which he was 
preparing to eat, others left off chewing their 
food. When a few seconds of the most perfect 
calm had elapsed, the rooting up and dusting out 
went on more briskly than ever, and the mouth- 
ful was doubly sweet to those who were now 
allowed to finish the noisy process of mastica- 
tion. 

At last our patience was rewarded, and Jung 
gave the signal for us to advance. 



VO JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



On each elephant there were now two riders, 
the mahout and a man behind, who, armed with 
a piece of hard wood into which two or three 
spikes were inserted, hammered the animal about 
the root of the tail as with a mallet. He Avas fur- 
nished with a looped rope to hold on by, and a 
sack stuffed with straw to sit upon, and was ex- 
pected to belabour the elephant with one hand 
while he kept himself on its back with the other. 

This was the position I filled on this trying 
occasion ; but my elephant fared well as regard- 
ed the instrument of torture, for I was much too 
fully occupied in taking care of myself to think 
of using it. Away we went at full speed, 
jostling one another up banks and through 
streams, and I frequently was all but jolted off 
the diminutive sack which ought to have formed 
my seat, but did not, for I found it impossible to 
sit. Being quite unable to maintain any position 
for two moments together, I looked upon it as a 
miracle that every bone in my body was not 
broken. Sometimes I was suddenly jerked into 
a sitting posture, and, not being able to get my 
heels from under me in time, they received a 
violent blow. A moment after I was thrown 
forward on my face, only righting myself in time 
to see a huge impending branch, which I had to 
escape by slipping rapidly down the crupper, 
taking all the skin oft' my toes in so doing, and, 
what would have been more serious, the branch 
nearly taking my head oft" if I did not stoop low 



A BREAKNECK COUNTRY. '71 

enough. When I could look about me, the scene 
was most extraordinary and indescribable : a 
hundred elephants were tearing through the 
jungle as rapidly as their unwieldy forms would 
let them, crushing down the heavy jungle in 
their headlong career, while their riders were 
gesticulating violently, each man punishing his 
elephant, or making a bolster of himself as he 
flung his body on one side or the other t& avoid 
branches ; while some, Ducrow-like, and confi- 
dent in their activity, were standing on the bare 
backs of their elephants, holding only by the 
looped rope, — a feat I found easy enough in the 
open country, but fearfully dangerous in the 
jungle. A few yards in front of us was a wild 
elephant with her young one, both going away 
in fine style, the pace being 8 or 9 miles an hour. 
I was just beginning to appreciate the sport, 
and was contemplating hammering my elephant 
so as to be up amongst the foremost, when we, 
in company with about half a dozen others, sud- 
denly disappeared from the scene. A nullah, or 
deep drain, hidden in the long grass, had en- 
gulfed elephants and riders. The suddenness of 
the shock unseated me, but fortunately I did not 
lose my hold of the rope, and more fortunately 
still my elephant did not roll over, but, balanc- 
ing himself on his knees, with the assistance of 
his trunk, made a violent effort, and succeeded in 
getting out of his uncomfortable position. 

The main body of the chase had escaped this 



12 JOURNEY TO KATMAXDU. 

nullah by going round the top of it ; but we 
were not so much thrown out as I expected, for 
we arrived in time to see the wild elephant 
charging and struggling in the midst of her pur- 
suers, who, after several attempts, finally suc- 
ceeded in noosina* her, and draomno: her awav 
in triumph between two tame elephants, each at- 
tached to the wild one by a rope, and pulling 
different ways whenever she Avas inclined to be 
unmanao'eable. I was watching^ the struofo'les 
which the huge beast made, and wondering how 
the young one, who was generally almost under 
the mother, had escaped being crushed in the 
melee, when a perfect roll of small arms turned 
our attention to another quarter, and I saw an 
elephant with an imposing pair of tusks charg- 
ing down upon us through a square of soldiers, 
which had just been broken by it, and wlio were 
now taking to the trees in all directions. I 
ought to remark, lest the gallant riflemen should 
be under the imputation of want of valour in 
this proceeding, that they were only allowed to 
fire blank cartridge. The elephant next to me 
stood the brunt of the charge, which was pretty 
severe, while mine created a diversion b}" but- 
ting him violently in the side, and, being armed 
with a formidable pair of tusks, made a con- 
siderable impression ; the wild one was soon 
completely overpowered by numbers, after 
throwing up his trunk and charging wildly in 
all directionft. Of the violence of one of these 



FURIOUS CHARGE OF ELEPHANTS. 73 



charges I have retained visible proof, for a splin- 
tered tusk, which had been broken short ofl* in 
the combat, was afterwards picked up and given 
to me as a trophy. Having succeeded in noos- 
ing this elephant also, we were dragging him 
away in the usual manner between two others, 
when he snapped one of the ropes and started 
off, pulling after him the elephant that still 
remained attached to him, and dashed through 
the jungle at full speed, notwithstanding the 
struggles of the involuntary companion of 
his flight. For a moment I feared that the 
courage of the mahout would give way in 
tliat pell-mell career, and that he would slip 
the rope Avhich bound the two animals together. 
But he held on manfully, and after another 
exciting chace we succeeded in surrounding the 
maddened monster ; my elej^hant jostled him so 
closely that I could touch him as we went neck 
and neck. It is a curious fact that the elephants 
never seem to think of uncurling their trunks, 
and sweeping their persecutors from the backs 
of their tame brethren : this they have never 
been known to do, though it has not unfre- 
quently occurred that a wild herd have proved 
more than a match for the tame one, and then 
there is nothing for it but to turn and make off 
in an ignominious retreat as fast as the blows of 
the mahouts can ^^ge them. It is only under 
these circumstances that there is any danger to 
the riders, and such an occurrence can take 

4 



'74 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

place only wlien the tame herd is small, and 
encounters an unusually large number of the 
wild elephants. Upon this occasion we mus- 
tered so strong that defeat was out of the ques- 
tion. 

We now heard a terrific bellowing at a short 
distance, which, in my ignorance, I thought pro- 
ceeded from a huge tusker making a gallant re- 
sistance somewhere ; I was rather disappointed, 
therefore, to find that the object of interest to a 
large group of men and elephants was only a 
young one struggling on his back in a deep hole 
into which he had fallen, and from which he was 
totally unable to extricate himself. Lying on 
his back, and kicking his legs wildly about in 
the air, he looked the most ridiculous object 
imaginable, and certainly made more noise 
in proportion to his size than any baby I ever 
heard. So incessant was his roaring that we 
could scarcely hear each other speak ; at last, by 
means of ropes attached to various parts of his 
body, and by dint of a great deal of pulling and 
hauling, we extricated the unfortunate infant 
from his awkward position. 

The poor little animal had not had a long life 
before experiencing its ups and downs, and it 
now looked excessively bewildered at not finding 
Its mother, who had escaped with the rest of the 
herd. He was soon consoled^^ however, by being 
allotted to a tame matron, who did not seem par- 
ticularlv pleased at being thus installed in the 



RETURN TO CAMP. '75 



office of foster mother whether she liked it or 
not. 

We now all jogged home in great spirits, and, 
though Jung professed himself dissatisfied with 
only having captured four out of a herd of twelve, 
we were perfectly contented with a day's work 
which my elephant-shooting experience in Ceylon 
had never seen equalled, and which so fully re- 
alised the promise made by the Minister at start- 
ing, that we should be the first to partake of a 
sport to be met with only in the noble forests of 
his native country. 



JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER YI. 

March to Bhimphede — ^National defences — The Cheesapany pass — Lovely 
scenery — Night adventure — The watch-fii'e — Reception at camp — Amval 
at Katmandu. 

We had looked forward witli no little anxiety to 
tlie morning following our elepliant-hiint, as we 
were to go in search, of rhinoceros : it was there- 
fore a severe disappointment to us when Jung 
entered our tent at daylight, and informed us 
that it was necessary we should at once proceed 
on our way to Katmandu. The reason he gave 
us was, that we should have to go too far out of 
our route before we could find our game : how- 
ever that might be, there was no help for it, and 
we commenced our march up the valley of the 
Rapti, along the narrow rocky path leading to 
Bhimphede, our next halting-place. It was a five 
hours' march, and we crossed the river thirty- 
two times before we came in sight of the pictur- 
esque Durumsolah, or native rest-house, which is 
situated at the head of the valley. Hills clothed 
to their summits with variegated jungle rose 
above us to an immense but not uniform height, 
and the scenery looked bolder as we became 
more enclosed among the mountains. 

Bhimphede is a Newar village, the inhabitants 



NATIONAL DEFENCES. 77 

being the aborigines of the country. It is said 
to derive its name from a Hindoo divinity named 
Bheem having on some occasion happened to 
stop there. It is distant from Hetowra about 
18 miles, and the road might be much improved 
by a little engineering. 

The present policy of the Nepaul government 
Is to keep the roads by which their country is 
approached in as impassable a state as possible, 
vainly imagining that, in case of a war, the bad- 
ness of the roads would ofler an insuperable ob- 
stacle to our progress, and compel us to relinquish 
any attempt to penetrate to Katmandu. This 
delusion ought to have been dispelled by the oc- 
cupation of Muckwanpore by Sir David Ochter- 
lony ; not that it is a contingency they need take 
much trouble to provide against, since it would 
never be worth our while to do more than take 
possession of the Terai. 

The present state of the roads renders it im- 
possible for goods to be conveyed into Nepaul, 
except upon men's backs ; and as the traffic would 
be considerable in various articles of commerce, 
the prosperity and wealth of the country would 
be incalculably increased by an improvement in 
the means of transit. 

Jung Bahadoor is quite alive to the real state 
of the case, and sees at once the absurdity of the 
policy pursued by the Nepaul government, but 
he feels that any innovation of the sort would be 
too unpopular for him to attempt in his present 



78 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

position. His recently imbibed liberal notions 
coincide but little witli the cramped ideas of a 
semi-barbarous durbar. He is well aware that 
neither bad roads, troops, nor any other obstacle 
that he could oppose to our advance, would avail 
in case of our invading Nepaul. His feeling as 
regards a war with the British was not inaptly 
expressed in a remark he once made to me, — " If 
a cat is pushed into a corner it will fly at an ele- 
phant, but it will always try to keep out of the 
corner as long as possible.'' 

At Bhimphede, where we arrived about mid- 
day, I dismounted from the elephant on which 
I had journeyed comfortably for 200 miles, and 
for which I had begun to feel quite an aifection, 
and was soon high up the precipitous ascent of 
the Cheesapany pass. It crosses a mountain 
which rises nearly 2000 feet above the village at 
its base ; the path is so steep that a horse can 
barely scramble up it ; and the ascent of the Rigi, 
in Switzerland, seemed a mere nothing in com- 
parison ; this pass in its turn is not nearly so 
steep as the Chandernagiri, which is the last 
pass before you descend into the valley of Kat- 
mandu. 

Having so much mountain work before me, I 
determined on walking the rest of the journey, 
that being the most satisfactory and enjoyable 
way of travelling across a highland country and 
viewing its scenery ; ni}" companion betook him- 
self to a cot or dandy swung on a pole, preferring 



THE CHEESAPANY PASS. 79" 

i. . . 

that method of getting carried over the hills to 
the one in general use amongst the natives, which 
I imagine is peculiar to Nepaul. An open- 
mouthed conical-l)asket, like that of the Parisian 
chiffonnier, but with contents in some respects 
different, since this contains the traveller and 
not the shreds of his exploded journal, is fastened 
upon the back of a bearer by a strap across his 
forehead and two others over his shoulders ; the 
occupant sits with his legs over the rim of the 
basket, and his back almost resting against the 
head of his bearer, who, bending forward under 
the weight of his load, and grasping a long stick, 
looks like some decrepit old man — a delusion 
which vanishes the instant you commence the 
ascent of a mountain by his side, when his en- 
durance and vigor astonish you, if they do not 
knock you up. 

Before we had toiled half way up the precipi- 
tous ascent, the view, that great alleviator of 
fatigue to the mountain traveller, was suddenly 
hidden from us by a thick mist in which we be- 
came enveloped, and which, rolling slowly over 
the hills, hid from our gaze a magnificent pano- 
rama of the lovely valley along which our morn- 
ing's march had led us, and which lay stretched 
at our feet. With its broad stream winding 
down its centre, it reminded me of many similar 
valleys in Switzerland and the Tyrol, more par- 
ticularly the Engadine, as seen from the hill 



80 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

above Nauders : while the hills, richly clad with 
masses of dark foliage, and rising to a height of 
two or three thousand feet, more nearly resembled 
those of the Cinnamon Isle. There is a fort near 
the summit of the pass with a few hundred 
soldiers, and a sort of custom-house, at which 
two sentries are placed for the purpose of levy- 
ing a tax amounting to about sixpence upon 
every bundle passing either in or out of the Ne- 
paul dominions ; whether it be a bundle of grass 
or a bale of the valuable fabric manufactured 
from the shawl-goat of Thibet, the same charge 
is made, rendering it a grievously heavy tax upon 
the poor man with his load of wood, while it is 
a matter of no importance to the rich merchant 
whose coolies are freighted with rare and valu- 
able merchandize. 

Having accomplished nearly half the descent 
of the opposite side, we emerged from the mist, 
and a view of a wilder valley opened up, in 
which the streams were more rapid and furious, 
and the mountains which enclosed it more rugged 
and precipitous. A few trees, principally firs, 
were here and there scattered over the bare face 
of the mountain wherever they could find a suf- 
ficiently-sheltered nook. Enterprising settlers 
had perched themselves upon the naked shoulders 
of the hills, or were more snugly ensconced be- 
low by the side of the brawling stream, which 
was crossed here and there by primitive bridges, 



THE CHEESAPANY PASS. 81 

consisting of a log or two thrown from one heap 
of stones to another, with a few turfs laid upon 
them. 

I observed in the Nepaul valleys — what must 
be the case in every country in which the hills 
are composed of a soft material — deltas formed 
by the soil which is washed down by the mount- 
ain torrents. The mass of debris in the valley 
often extends quite across it, and forces the 
stream through a gorge, frequently of consider- 
able grandeur in those places where the power 
of the torrent during the rains is very great. 

This circumstance adds greatly to the beauty 
of the scenery in the Tyrol, where the limestone 
formation of the hills thus worked upon spreads 
a soil in swelling knolls over the valley, on which 
the most luxuriant vineyards are picturesquely 
terraced. The effect, however, is very different 
in Nepaul, where the hills are composed chiefly 
of gravel and conglomerate ; the deltas, conse- 
quently, produce crops of stones more frequently 
than of anything else. Notwithstanding the 
want of cultivation in the valley on which we 
were now looking down, it was full of a sublime 
beauty, the mountains at either end towering to 
a height of three or four thousand feet, while the 
path we were to follow was to be seen on the 
opposite side, winding over a formidable range, 
and always appearing to mount the steepest hills 
and to go down unnecessaril}^ into innumerable 
valleys. It was with no little regret then that 



82 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

we made tlie almost interminable descent, ap- 
parently for the mere purpose of starting fair 
from the bottom of the valley, before we com- 
menced the arduous climb in store for us over a 
range still higher than the one we had just 
traversed. 

"We crossed the stream at the bottom by a 
single-arched bridge of curious mechanism and 
peculiar to the Himalayas, the chief advantage 
being the large span, which admits of an 
immense body of water rushing through ; a 
necessary precaution in the case of a mountain 
torrent. We then toiled up the hill side by a 
fearfully narrow path. At times my companion 
seemed absolutely hanging over the precipice ; 
and our path was not in some places above 
twelve inches broad ; had we slipped we must 
inevitably have become food for the fishes in the 
Pomonia, which was gliding rapidly along some 
hundreds of feet below, and which we were 
informed was a cood troutine' stream. 

At last we reached the summit of the range, 
from which we had a lovely view of the sur- 
rounding country ; the hills were just tipped by 
the setting sun ; but this fact, while it added to 
the beauty of the scene, materially detracted 
from our enjojmient of it. In a few moments 
more we should be beniglited, and we ha 1 still 
two hours' walk to the village for which we 
were bound. Accordingly, we had scarcely 
commenced the descent when it became so dark 



NIGHT ADVENTURE. 83 

that it was no longer possible to distinguish the 
path ; and having a vivid recollection of the 
precipices I had already passed, I felt no inclina- 
tion to risk a fall of a few hundred feet. After 
making some little progress by feeling our way 
with sticks, we found it hopeless, and fairly 
gave in, having no alternative but to make the 
narrow path we were on our resting-place for 
the remainder of the night. Tliis was a most 
disagreeable prospect, and we regretted that we 
had allowed Juno' and his suite to ride on. The 
minister had recommended us to follow in cots, 
as he thought the road was too bad for men 
accustomed to level country to ride along. It 
was vain to tell him that we could ride where he 
could, or that we had seen hills before we came 
to Nepaul ; he insisted that he was responsible 
for our safety, and would not hear of our riding. 
As we had little anticipated so arduous a march 
at starting, we had not thought it worth while 
further to contest the point with one who knew 
the country so well ; and now, when it was too 
late, we sincerely wished ourselves comfortably 
lodged in his camp. 

I had already walked for six consecutive 
hours over roads exceeding in danger and diffi- 
culty most of the mountain passes in Switzerland, 
and began to feel fatigued and not a little 
hungry, seeing that I had not touched a morsel 
of food since daybreak, with the exception of a 
crust of bread that I had found in my pocket. 



84 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Thus the prospect of stretching myself out on a 
slipper}^ path, with a stone for my pillow, and 
the contemplation of my miseries for my supper, 
was anything hut agreeable. 

As we were in this humour it was not to be 
wondered at that an intelligent soldier, whom 
we had for a guide, came in for a certain amount 
of our indignation when he informed us that it 
was still four coss (eight miles) to Pheer Phing, 
the place to which we were bound. Base 
deceiver ! — he had told us at starting that it was 
not quite four coss, and now, after walking hard 
for six hours, we had got rather farther from it 
than we were at starting. It was impossible, at 
this rate, to say when our journey would come 
to an end. Nor could we get him to admit his 
error, and own that one or other of his state- 
ments must be wrong. He was a good-hearted 
fellow withal, and bore us no malice for our ill 
temper, but gave me a walking-stick and an 
orange as peace-offerings. However, he rigidly 
maintained his assertion as to the distance, at 
the same time suggesting that we should push 
on, encouraoins: us with the assurance that the 
rest of the path was a maidan or dead level. 
As he had made a similar statement at starting, 
and as the only bit of level walking Ave could 
remember was a log bridge, over which we had 
crossed, we knew too well what amount of confi- 
dence to put in this assertion. 

At last one of the bearers who had gone on to 



THE WATCH-FIRE. 85 



explore the path ahead came back with the ani- 
mating intelligence " that he saw a fire." We 
therefore determined to make for it with all 
diligence, and soon perceived the bright glare 
of a large w^atch-fire, with a party of soldiers 
crowded round it. We gladly joined them, and 
while one of their mnnbcr was sent forward for 
torches we rolled ourselves in our cloaks near 
the crackling blaze, for the night ^vas bitterly 
cold ; and, heaping up fresh logs upon the fire, a 
bright flame lit up the wild scene. 

We forgot our miseries as we watched the 
picturesque group of weather-beaten Ghorkas, or 
gathered what we could from their conversation, 
of their opinions upon the politics of the country, 
and the trip of the prime minister, on both which 
subjects they expressed themselves pretty freely, 
and took pains to impress upon us how anxious 
they were for our safe arrival in camp, informing 
us that their heads would be the price of any 
accident that should happen to us. At last the 
torches were seen flickering on the opposite hill, 
and soon afterwards we commenced our march 
in picturesque procession, passing over rugged 
ascents, across brawling rocky streams, and 
down dark romantic glens, until we began to 
think that the existence of Pheer Phing was a 
fiction. 

It was about nine o'clock when I perceived 
we had entered a town which, by its brick pave- 
ment and high houses, I concluded to be a large 



86 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

one. After crossing three ranges of mountains, 
each nearly two thousand feet high, we did not 
much speculate upon anything but the distance 
still to be travelled ; and the numerous lights 
twinkling in the distance were a welcome evi- 
dence of the proximity of Jung's encampment. 
The minister came out and received us cordially, 
expressing his regret at our misadventure and 
the anxiety he had been in as to our fate ; for 
the route we had taken was not the ordinary 
one, but one of those short cuts which so often 
prove the unwary traveller's greatest misfortune. 
As oui* servants had not yet come up, he insisted 
upon our partaking of the repast he had prepared 
for us. I did not require a second invitation, 
and all scruples vanished as I looked with 
delight at the little leaf cups containing the 
scented greasy condiments formerly despised, 
and unhesitatingly plunged my fingers (for of 
course there were no spoons or forks) into a 
mass of rice and mixed it incontinently with 
everything within reach, disregarding the Jung's 
remonstrances, that this was salt-fish and the 
other sweetmeat, and that they would not be 
good together. After fasting for fifteen hours, 
and being in hard exercise the greater part of 
that time, one is not disposed to be particular, 
and to this day I have not the slightest concep- 
tion what I devoured for the first ten minutes ; 
at the end of that time my first sensation was 
peculiarly disagreeable — namely, that my hunger 



RECEPTION AT CAMP. 87 

was sufficiently appeased to allow me to consider 
what I was eating ; at this point I stopped, still 
rather hungry, but better off than my companion, 
who, having retained his presence of mind, had 
not touched anything. 

We now got into palanq.uins prepared for us, 
and arrived at the residency at Katmandu at 
three in the morning, in a comatose state, arising 
partly from fatigue, partly from drowsiness, but 
chiefly, I imagine, from peculiar feeding. 



88 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER YII. 

The British residency — Houses at the temple ofPusputnath — Unprepossess- 
ing appearance of the Newar population — Their dress and characteris- 
tic features — Ghcrkas — Temple of Pusputnath — View from the hill above 
it — The temple of Bhood — Worshippers from Thibet and Chinese Tartary 
— Their singular and disgusting appearance — Striking scene in the grand 
square of the city of Katmandu. 

I DID not awake until tlie day was far advanced, 
and my first impulse was to look out of my 
window, with no little curiosity, expecting to see 
the Snowy Range somewhere in the heavens 
near the sun ; in this I was disappointed, for the 
mist was so dense that neither sun nor Snowy 
Range was visible ; we therefore determined to 
go in search of less exalted objects of interest. 

But ere we canter away from the door of the 
residency upon the shaggy little ponies which 
had been provided for our use by the Durbar, 
the Company's establishment in Nepaul demands 
a moment's attention. In the only thoroughly 
independent state extant in India the British 
Government is represented l)y a Resident, to 
whose hospitality we were much indebted during 
our delightful stay in Katmandu. His house, a 
Gothic mansion of a rather gingerbread appear- 
ance, is situated in a well laid-out park-like 
enclosure, which forms the residency grounds, 



BRITISH RESIDENCr. 89 

and which contains Wo or three neat substantial 
houses, the habitations of the two officers of the 
embassy. One of them kindly accompanied us 
in our search after sights, and directed our steps 
in the first instance to the temple of Pusputnath. 
We passed through the suburbs of Katmandu by 
a road beautifully paved, in some places with 
brick, in others with granite. It was along this 
road that the body of Martibar Singh, the late 
prime minister, and uncle of Jung Bahadoor, 
was dragged after he had been shot by his 
nephew, and was burned on the bank of the 
Bhagmutty before the soldiery (with whom lie 
was an especial favourite) had any idea of his 
having been killed. 

As I approached the temple I remarked some 
handsome houses, three or four stories in height, 
which we were informed were the residences of 
some of the priests. As they were good speci- 
mens of the architecture of this country, I may 
as well describe them here. 

The whole front of the Nepaulese houses pre- 
sented a mass of curiously carved wood-work, so 
that the beautiful flat brick of which they were 
built (and for the manufacture of which Nepaul 
is famous) was scarcely discernible amidst the 
intricate tracery which surrounded every win- 
dow, and hung in broad wooden fringes from the 
balconies : these are formed under the eaves, 
which project five or six feet, and are supported 
by rafters, on which quaint figures are depicted 



&0 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

in all sorts of impossible postures ; the space 
between the rafters is also filled by carved wood, 
forming a sort of balcony or small room, gene- 
rally occupied by the women of the establish- 
ment, and flat faces peer out of grotesque win- 
dows as you pass beneath. 

But it must not be imagined that the same 
attraction exists here as in other Oriental coun- 
tries to induce you to return their gaze. On 
the contrary, the female portion of the Nepaulese 
community is anything but attractive. I have 
seldom seen a race look more debased and 
squalid. Sometimes a florid tint about the nose 
and cheek-bones seems to hint at an affection for 
the bottle ; wliile their flowing or rather tangled 
locks, and slovenly dress, might fairly induce 
the suspicion that they had but lately parted 
company with it. The Newar women, however, 
were ladylike in their appearance, when com- 
pared with some of the Bootya tribe with whom 
I afterwards made acquaintance. 

It would, perhaps, be hardly fair to these 
copper-coloured ladies to judge entirely from 
their appearance, but, from what I could learn, 
it did not belie them, except, of course, as re- 
gards their friendship for the bottle, drunken- 
ness being a vice which is not prevalent, though 
the strictness with respect to intoxicating li- 
quors, so remarkable amongst the Hindoos of 
the plains, is by no means observable among the 
hill tribes. 



APPEARANCE OF THE NEWARS. 91 

The dress of the men consists of a short coat, 
not unlike a shooting-coat, reaching about half- 
way to the knees, and composed of a coarse 
cotton fabric manufactured in the country, from 
a tree which is a native of some of the lower 
valleys, but which I did not see in the valley of 
Katmandu. 

In the colder months they wear home-spun 
woollen clothes. The dress of the women differs 
little from that of the men, except that the coat 
is longer, resembling a dressing-gown, and a sort 
of bodice is generally worn beneath it ; a white 
shawl wrapped round the waist completes one 
of the most ungraceful costumes imaginable. 
All the men and some of the women are armed 
with the kukri, a heavy-bladed weapon or knife 
of singular shape. But lest this be too unpre- 
possessing a picture of the Newars, or aborigines 
of Nepaul (for the Ghorkas are a superior and 
very different race), I should remark that I had 
no opportunity of seeing any of the females of 
the higher orders of either nation. The Ghorkas, 
being, for the most part, bigoted Hindoos, are 
prevented by their religion from allowing the 
women to appear in public. The Newars, not 
fettered by any such restraint, can now boast 
very few noble families ; the ancient grandees 
of the Newar dynasty are extirpated, with the 
exception of one or two of the old aristocracy, 
who are in the last stage of decay. I cannot 
agree with Colonel Kirkpatrick (who wrote an 



92 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

account of his visit to Nepaul in 1803) in think- 
ing that, " though the Newars have round and 
rather flat faces, small eyes and low spreading 
noses, they bear no resemblance to Chinese 
features ;" on the contrary, I was much struck 
with the great similarity of the mass of the lower 
orders to the Chinese. Their imperturbable 
good humour and unaffected simplicity as plainly 
proved them a hill race, as did their picturesque 
dwellings and sturdy limbs. Altogether this 
class of the inhabitants of Nepaul are a cheerful, 
happy race, for whom one could feel a sort of 
affection after becoming reconciled to their ap- 
pearance ; but a woman is certainly not fasci- 
nating when what ought to be nose is nothing 
but cheek with two holes in it, and what ought 
to be neck is almost body as well. If people 
have protuberances in wrong places, it of course 
requires a little time for the eye to become 
accustomed to them. It may be that a goitre is 
a beauty in the eyes of many a young Nepaulese 
swain. It matters little, however, to a young 
Newar bride whether her husband admires her 
or not, for she is at liberty to claim a divorce 
whenever she pleases, and, if her second choice 
be not of lower caste than herself, she may leave 
him at pleasure and return to her - original 
spouse, resuming the charge of any family she 
may have had by him. 

The Ghorkas are the conquerors of Nepaul, 
and now compose the army ; they have grants 



TEMPLE OF PUSPUTNATH. 93 

of land called jaghires, on which they live when 
not actually on service. They are a handsome 
and independent race, priding themselves upon 
not being able to do anything but fight ; and in 
their free and sometimes noble carriage often 
reminded me of the Tyrolese. 

Besides the Ghorkas and Newars there are 
two or three other tribes, each consisting of but 
a limited number, and possessing no peculiar 
distinguishing marks, except the differences to 
be found in their religious opinions, which are 
generally a mixture of the Bhuddist and Hindoo 
creeds. 

But to return to the temple of Pusputnath. 
This celebrated edifice is said to have been 
erected by Pussoopush Deotli, the fourth prince 
of the Soorijbunsee dynasty ; and so sacred is 
the temple considered, that a pilgrimage to its 
shrines is held to be more meritorious than any 
other act that can be performed by a Hindoo. 
As the massive folding-doors opened before us, 
the view of the court-yard was certainly more 
striking than anything I had yet seen of the 
sort. Immediately opposite the handsome gate- 
way, and situated in the centre of the court- 
yard, was the temple, roofed with lead, while the 
edges were ornamented with a profusion of gold 
leaf. Beside the large doors of massive silver 
were finely carved windows, covered in all 
directions with devices in the same precious 
metal. 



94 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Four sculptured lions guarded the double 
flight of steps, while at the bottom of the prin- 
cipal flight was a large figure of a kneeling bull 
(nanda), executed in copper, and superbly gilt. 
The rest of the court-jard was filled with images 
and shrines of various descriptions ; a kneeling 
figure of Siva, a huge bell, more lions, and other 
sacred objects being studded throughout it in 
odd confusion. After looking at the varied and 
somewhat brilliant objects about us, our atten- 
tion was directed to the roof of the temple, and 
certainly the transition from the sublime to the 
ridiculous was extraordinary. Pots, pans, old 
kukris, dusty-looking musical instruments, goods 
and chattels of all descriptions, such as one 
might imagine would form the contents of a 
Nepaulese pawnbroker's shop, if there is any 
such establishment here, were wedged together 
indiscriminately beneath the projecting roof of 
the pagoda, for of that Chinese form was this 
much venerated Hindoo temple. This mass of in- 
congruous wares, as far as I could learn, was 
composed of the unclaimed goods of pious worship- 
pers, persons dying without known heirs, and 
certainly, to judge from their appearance, the 
heirs did not lose much by not establishing their 
claims. 

We ascended the hill, immediately under which 
the temple is situated, and were charmed with 
the lovely prospect which it commanded. On 
the left, and clotliino: with its brilliant colours a 



TEMPLE OF PUSPUTNATH. 95 

gentle slope, was the grove sacred to Siva, 
divided by the equally sacred Bhagmutty»from 
the temple we had just visited, and into which 
we now looked down. The Bhagmutty was 
crossed by two narrow Chinese-looking bridges, 
resembling those we have such frequent opportu- 
nities of admiring on the willow-pattern plates. 
It is at this sacred spot that devout Hindoos 
wish to die, with their feet in the water. Here 
it is that the bodies of the great are burnt ; Mar- 
tibar Singh was reduced to ashes at the end of 
the bridge, and so was the Ranee not three 
months before my visit, together with two favour- 
ite female slaves, whose society she did not wish 
to relinquish. 

Beyond this interesting foreground stretched 
the luxuriant valley, its gentle slopes and emi- 
nences terraced to their summits, which were 
often crowned by some old fortified Newar town : 
the terraces, tinged with the brilliant green of 
the young crops, rose one above another to the 
base of the walls, while beneath the Bhagmutty 
wound its tortuous course to the romantic gorge 
in the mountains, through which it leaves this 
favoured valley to traverse lazily the uninterest- 
ing plains of upper India. 

A peak of the gigantic Himaleh, bursting 
through the bank of clouds which had hitherto 
obscured it, reared its snow-capped summit far 
up towards the skies, and completed this noble 
prospect. 



96 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Crossing the river, we proceeded to visit the 
temple sacred to Bhood, the resort of the nume- 
rous tribes of Bhootiyas, or inhabitants of the 
highlands of Thibet and Chinese Tartary, who 
perform annual pilgrimages hither in the winter, 
but are obliged to return to their homes early in 
the spring, being unable to endure the heat of a 
Nepaulese summer. 

This remarkable building was visible some 
time before we reached it, and is of the form 
peculiar to Bhuddist places of worship in other 
parts of the world, but more particularly in 
Anuradhupoora and the ancient cities of Ceylon, 
the ruins of which bear testimony to the existence 
of larger Dagobas than that before which the 
followers of the Buddhist faith worship in the 
valley of Katmandu. 

The pyramidal summit was gorgeously gilt, 
and terminated in a huge bell adorned in the 
same glittering manner, producing a brilliant 
effect as it brightly reflected the rays of the 
noonday sun. The massive stone platform on 
which the Dagoba stood was square ; the ascent 
to it on each side was by a broad flight of steps ; 
but on the lower part of the pyramid, staring 
Chinese-looking eyes, painted in brilliant colours, 
detracted considerably from the imposing effect 
which a massive pile of stone and brick, not less 
than 120 feet high, would otherwise have pro- 
duced. 

We rode round it in a sort of court-yard, 



THE BIIOOTIYAS. 97 



enclosed by small two-storied houses, wliicli were 
very filthy, and out of which emerged, men, 
women, and children, very filthy also ; we were 
soon encompassed by a crowd of the most disre- 
putable, dissolute-looking wretches imaginable. 
The women were dressed in thick woollen gowns, 
which had once been red, and reached a little 
below the knee ; these were loosely fastened 
round the waist, remaining open or closed above, 
as the case might be. The children, notwith- 
standing the inclement temperature, were in the 
cool and airy costume common to the rising 
generation in the East. The men were dressed 
exactly like the women, their matted hair and 
beard, flat noses, and wide eyes, generally blood- 
shot, giving them a disgusting appearance. Both 
sexes wore a sort of woollen gaiter, open at the 
calf, the protruding muscle of which looked as if 
nothing could have confined it ; their shoes, as 
far as the dust would allow me to see, were of 
the same material. They seemed good-natured 
and inoffensive, but are not free from the vice of 
drunkenness ; they consume quantities of tea 
prepared with rancid lard. 

Had I been asked to determine the origin of 
this race, I should have pronounced it to be a 
mixture of Naples lazzaroni with the scum of an 
Irish regiment. The ruddy complexions of some 
of the women, and the swarthy look of many of 
the men, might fairly warrant such a conclusion. 
They were so importunate and offensive as they 

5 " " 



JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



pressed round me that I hurried over my sk€-«h 
of the temple, and made my escape from them, 
not, however, without once more looking round 
with interest on the crowd of beings whose 
distant habitations were upon the northern 
slope of the Himalayan chain, hitherto unvi- 
sited by any European, except Dr. Hooker, and 
consequently almost totally unknown. 

I quite envied them the journey they were 
about to undertake, which would occupy them 
three weeks ; the large droves of sheep by which 
they are always accompanied carried their limited 
worldly possessions, together with the various 
tokens of civilization which they had procured in 
the (to them) highly civilized country they were 
now visiting, and on which no doubt their Bhoo- 
tan friends would look with no little awe and 
wonderment. 

This wandering and singular race do not visit 
Nepaul solely to worship at the temple of Bhood, 
but have an eye to business as well as religion. 
I shall have occasion by and by to speak of the 
numerous articles which they import into Nepaul 
on the backs of» sheep, over the rocky passes 
which lead from the cold region they inhabit. 

On our way from the temple of Bhood, which, 
by the by, had just been furbished up and white- 
washed by a great man from H'Lassa, an emis- 
sary of the Grand Lama's, we passed through the 
town of Katmandu, which was entered by a 
massive gateway, the city being surrounded by a 



TOWN OF KATMANDU. 99 

wall. Long narrow streets, very fairly paved, 
lead in all directions ; the houses are not so high 
as those of Benares or Cairo ; the streets are 
broader, and some of them would admit of the 
passage of a carriage. They are all well drained 
and comparatively clean, contrasting most favour- 
ably in that respect with any other Oriental town 
I have ever seen. The streets were filled with 
foot-passengers, in bright and variegated cos- 
tumes, passing busily on, or stopping to make 
purchases at the shops, which were on the ground- 
floor, with the whole front open, and the mer- 
chant sitting in the midst of his wares. The 
next story is inhabited, I believe, by his family ; 
but I did not gain an entrance into any of the 
common houses. The outside front generally 
presented a mass of wood carving, each small 
window surrounded by a border two or three 
feet broad, while under the eaves of the house 
projected the singular balcony I have already 
described. 

The great square, in which is situated the 
Durbar, or palace of the King, presented in itself 
almost all the characteristic features of a Nepaul 
town. As it suddenly burst upon us on turning 
the corner of the long street leading from the 
city-gate, the view was in every respect most 
striking. This square, or court, is well paved, 
and contains the Chinese pagoda, composed en- 
tirely of wood, from which it is said the town 
derives its name. Its three or four roofs, glitter- 



100 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

ing one above another, are supported by grotes- 
que representations of unknown deities, and 
figures of all sizes and colors, not always of the 
most proper description. The whole formed a 
mass of green, gold leaf, and vermilion ; and was 
guarded by a sentry, who, in order to be in keep- 
ing with his charge, wore a long flowing gown 
of bright colors, reaching to his ankles, and 
marched backwards and forwards at the top of a 
long flight of steps. A couple of well-carved 
lions, in grey sandstone, guarded the lower steps 
as efficiently as he did the upper ones. There 
were at least four pagodas, painted in like way, 
and guarded in like manner, in the great square 
of Katmandu. The guard-house contained a 
large stand of arms of antique construction. 
There was also the Durbar, the residence of the 
Bajah, a straggling building, almost European 
in its style, and gaudy enough to please even the 
late King of Bavaria ; close to it was a huge de- 
formed image of Siva, sitting in an uncomfortable 
posture on a square stone, violently gesticulating 
with her fourteen arms, perhaps at a party of 
heretical Bhootyas who were passing tranquilly 
by, leading along their sheep, decidedly the 
cleanest and most respectable-looking members 
of the group. Beyond, high and gloomy houses 
almost touched, their wooden fringes creaking 
responsively to one another across the narrow 
streets, while the owners of the cobwebby tene- 
ments, peeping out of the narrow windows in 



SQUARE OF KATMANDU. 101 

their balconies, made their remarks upon the 
strangers in not much more melodious tones ; in 
an old court-yard a little way above, was visible 
an unwieldy rhinoceros, placidly contemplating 
a bundle of grass, from which it had satisfied its 
hunger, in happy ignorance that its life is de- 
pendent on that of the Rajah ; for in Nepaul it 
is a rule that the death of one great animal 
should be immediately followed by that of an- 
other, and, when a Rajah dies, a rhinoceros is 
forthwith killed to keep him company. As he 
stood tethered almost under the palace windows, 
we thought him at once a fitting moral and a 
characteristic background to this novel and in- 
teresting picture. 



102 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

The Temple of Sumboonath— View from the platform of the temple— The 
valley of Nepaul and its resources— Tradition respecting it — Entrance of 
the Prime Minister into Katmandu — The two kings — A brilliant reception. 

The temple of Sumboonatli, wMcli we next visit- 
ed, is situated on the summit of a woody emi- 
nence ; it is approached by a long flight of steps, 
the trouble of ascending which is amply com- 
pensated by the lovely view which the platform 
of the temple commands, as well as by an inspec- 
tion of the curious construction of the building 
itself. 

Sumboonath is looked upon as one of the old- 
est temples in Nepaul, and was erected, according 
to Kirkpatrick, when Nepaul was ruled by a race 
of Thibetians ; its possession was at one time 
claimed by the Dalai Lama, or Sovereign Pontilff 
of H'Lassa, but he has since been obliged to aban- 
don the claim. 

The Dagoba resembles the temple of Bhood, 
but is only about half its size ; the spire is covered 
with plates of copper, gilt. It is surrounded by 
pagodas, as well as numerous more modern 
shrines of a bastard Hindoo class, to which 
Bhootyas and Bhamas, a tribe of Newars, resort 
in great numbers. Occasionally the Ghorkas 



TEMPLE OF SUMBOONATH. 103 

visit these shrines ; the thunderbolt of Indra, 
which is here exhibited, being, I suppose, the ob- 
ject of attraction to them, as they pride them- 
selves on being orthodox Hindoos. 

This collection of temples is surrounded by 
rickety old houses, inhabited by Bhootyas and 
priests. All around small images sit^upon wet 
stones, holding in their hands everlasting tapers, 
and look out of their niches upon the dirty 
worslujjpers who smother them with faded 
flowers. Turning our backs upon these little 
divinities, we obtained the first panoramic view 
we had yet had of the valley and city of Kat- 
mandu. 

The valley is of an oval shape ; its circumfer- 
ence is nearly 50 miles, and the hills by which it 
is enclosed vary from one to two thousand feet 
in height. Sheopoorie, the most lofty of these, 
is clothed to the summit with evergreen jungle, 
and rises abruptly behind the town. Behind it 
the fantastically shaped Jib Jibia shows its 
craggy summit thickly powdered with snow, 
while the still loftier Gosian-Than, at a distance 
of about 30 miles, rears its ever white and 
glittering peak to a height of 25,000 feet, and 
seems majestically to preside over this glorious 
scene. 

The town of Katmandu, situated at the junc- 
tion of the Bhagmutty and Bishmutty, and con- 
taining a population of 50,000 inhabitants, lay 
spread at our feet, and we could discern the 



104 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

passengers on the narrow fragile-looking bridges 
which span the two rivers, at this time contain- 
ing scarcely any water. Innumerable temples, 
Bhuddist and Hindoo, and mixtures of both, 
occupied hillocks, or were situated near the 
sacred fonts or groves with which the valley 
abounds, ^nd which adds much to the beauty of 
its appearance. The number of the edifices 
affords strong proof of the superstition of the 
people, and warrants the remark of £)olonel 
Kirkpatrick, who says that there seem to be in 
Nepaul as many shrines as houses, and as many 
idols as inhabitants. 

A tradition is current in Nepaul that the 
valley of Katmandu was at some former period 
a lake, and it is difiicult to say in which cha- 
racter it would have appeared the most beauti- 
ful. The knolls, wooded or terraced, with 
romantic old Newar towns crowning their 
summits, — the five rivers of the valley winding 
amongst verdant meadows, — the banks here and 
there precipitous, where the soft clayey soil had 
yielded to the action of the torrent in the rains, 
— the glittering city itself, — the narrow paved 
ways leading between high hedges of prickly 
pear, — the pagodas and temples studded in all 
directions, presented a scene as picturesque and 
perhaps more interesting than would have been 
afforded by the still lake embedded in wild 
mountains, and frowned upon by snow-capped 
peaks ; while the richly cultivated knolls in the 



VALLEY OF NEPAUL. 105 

valley formed fertile islands, the luxuriant vege- 
tation of which would have softened the scene 
into one of exquisite beauty. 

Whether the rich and wonderfully prolific soil 
of the valley is the alluvial deposit of this lake, 
I cannot say, but there is no doubt that, what- 
ever may be the cause, the valley of Nepaul is 
almost unrivalled in its fertility, supporting as it 
does in comfort and plenty a population of 
400,000 inhabitants, being 300 persons to the 
square mile. 

There is not, I conceive, any other mountain- 
ous country in the world that can boast of pos- 
sessing so favoured a spot. Throughout its 
whole length and breadth, not a stone is to be 
found ; it is well watered ; its temperature is 
delightful, the thermometer in the hottest month 
seldom reaches 75°, in the coldest never falls 
below 30° ; it is sufficiently near the tropics to 
rejoice in the presence of the warm bright sun 
even in the depth of winter, while the proximity 
of the ever snow-capped "Himaleh" prevents 
the heat being too severely felt in the middle of 
summer. It rarely freezes in the valley, and 
never snows, although the hills around, some of 
which do not exceed 1000 feet, are frequently 
powdered. 

It is impossible to conceive a more enjoyable 
climate, and the numerous productions of which 
the valley can boast betoken its genial influences. 

I am sorry that I cannot from my own obser- 

6* 



106 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

yation testify to the ricli variety of its vegetable 
productions, as tlie time of year during whicli I 
was in Nepaul was unfavourable, but many 
English for est- trees flourish here, — amongst 
them, oaks, chestnuts, and pines ; rhododendrons 
also abound, and I observed almost every species 
of English fruit-tree ; in the residency garden all 
the European vegetables are raised to perfection. 

But to return from this digression on the 
advantages of 'soil and climate which the valley 
possesses. The lovely view before us comprised 
in a glance the grand and majestic scenery of 
the mountains, with the softer but still animating 
view of the luxuriant plain, bearing evidence of 
that large and industrious population whose 
habitations were so picturesquely grouped 
throughout it. 

We had not nearly satisfied our desire to gaze 
upon so much that was new and interesting, 
when we were informed by our attendants that 
the astrologers had announced the auspicious 
moment at which the Minister Sahib, or, as we 
must now call him, Jung Bahadoor Comaranagee, 
should leave the camp outside the city walls and 
make an imposing entry into Katmandu. 

This lucky hour was now close at hand ; and 
as the entrance of the prime minister into the 
capital was a scene not to be lost, we hurried 
down to be in time for the ceremony of his recep- 
tion. 

In a few moments we were rattling in one of 



NEPAULESE MORALS. 107 

tlie only carriages in Nepaul over one of the 
only carriage-roads of which it can boast, and 
soon reached the bridge, near which was pitched 
a spacious tent. On our way we passed a square 
lined with soldiers, and the streets were crowded 
with a motley population, such as it would be 
vain to endeavour to describe, but which 
increased in density as we approached the centre 
of attraction, near which we were obliged to 
leave the carriage, and were conducted between 
rows ©f soldi-ers by various members of the royal 
household, each of us being led by the hand in 
the most affectionate manner. My conductor was 
a brother of Jung Bahadoor's, who distinguished 
himself about a week afterwards by a base 
attempt to assassinate the minister. I was 
unfortunate in my friends in other instances 
besides this ; one old man, who had accompanied 
the minister to Europe, and was an especial ally 
of mine on board ship, was implicated in the 
same vile plot against the life of the man 
towards whom he had every reason to feel grati 
tude, if such a sentiment is known amongst 
Orientals. Poor old Kurbeer Kutrie was a 
venerable-looking dignified old man, bigoted to 
an excess, and thoroughly disgusted with his trip 
to the land of the beef-eaters, though he could 
not but admit that what he saw was wonderful ! 
The ignominious punishment which was inflicted 
upon him for his share in the conspiracy, and by 
which he lost caste, was doubtless more severely 



108 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

felt by him than death would have been. Not 
that it signifies in the least in Nepaul whether a 
man is a fratricide or prefers making away with 
more distant relatives. If you do not associate 
with assassins, you must give up the pleasures of 
Nepaul society. Among the natives assassina- 
tion is not looked upon as a crime, but as a 
matter of course ; the minister, however, with 
those of his suite who accompanied him on his 
recent mission, have become more enlightened in 
this respect, and have found to their astonish- 
ment that indiscriminate murder is not the usual 
mode adopted in the civilized world for bringing 
about political changes or accomplishing private 
ends. 

Jung Bahadoor, no doubt, now wishes that 
more of the Durbar had made the same trip, and 
profited by it in like manner, since the custom 
above alluded to must be highly inconvenient to 
him, more particularly since he has eight bro- 
thers, most of whom cast a longing eye towards 
the premiership ; a man's chance of filling this 
office not depending upon his power " to form a 
ministry," so much as upon his accuracy in tak- 
ing aim and his skill in seizing any opportunity 
offered by his rival of showing his dexterity in 
a manner more personal than pleasant. Jung 
Bahadoor may well exclaim, " Save me from my 
brothers !" Already has one of them attempted 
his life ; but the Minister has learned mercy in 
England, and, to the astonishment of every one, 



BUM BAHADOOR. 109 



Budreenath Sing and his fellow conspirators are 
only banished for life. It is said that the minis- 
ter resisted all the representations of his friends 
as to the propriety of executing the conspirators 
by the argument of " What would the ' Times' 
say ?" — which must have appeared to the ma- 
jority of the members of the Nepaul Durbar to 
be a very extraordinary reason for leniency. 

Bum Bahadoor had acted as prime minister 
during the absence of his brother in England, 
and had just learned to value the possession of 
power when the return of the minister put an 
end to his short-lived greatness, and he would 
have sunk at once into comparative insignifi- 
cance, had not Jung, who knew enough of human 
nature to guess the sentiments of a man in such 
a position, judiciously gilded the pill by making 
him Commander-in-Chief of the Forces. 

Grasping the friendly hand of my conductor, 
in happy ignorance of his fratricidal intentions, 
I followed immediately behind the minister, 
whose return to Nepaul, after he had encounter- 
ed the perils of land and sea, and paid a visit to 
the Queen of the greatest country in the world, 
not even excepting China, was a matter of so 
much importance, that the Rajah himself came 
from his palace to the spot where we were 
now assembled, to meet one who had been 
favoured with an interview with so mighty a 
monarch, and who had in his possession the 
letter from her majesty of England to his ma- 



110 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

jesty of Nepaul. We were, therefore, prepared 
to see the king seated on a divan, and arrayed in 
gorgeous attire ; but who the old gentleman was 
who was sitting with most perfect sang-froid 
next him on his elevated seat, I was at a loss to 
conceive. Whoever he was, he seemed most 
perfectly at home, and I found on inquiry it was 
natural he should be so, for the old man was 
sitting on his own throne, which had been 
usurped by his son, he having been dethroned on 
the score of imbecility. Such being the case, 
why he was allowed to occupy the place he did 
was inexplicable, unless it were to prove that he 
really was unfit to sit upon the throne alone, 
since he was content to share it upon grand 
occasions with his son, whenever this latter pre- 
cocious young gentleman, who was, as it were, 
the representative of " Young Nepaul," chose to 
give his venerable father a treat. 

But it would be useless to speculate on the 
cause of this proceeding, since it is impossible 
ever to understand, and hopeless to attempt to 
discover, the motives or secret springs which 
actuate a native Durbar ; and no doubt Jung 
himself, who is the real manager of everything, had 
some good reason for the present double occupancy 
of the throne. It struck me that it would an- 
swer one purpose at any rate : it would show 
the people that the young king looked as im- 
becile as the old one, while his countenance was 
far less prepossessing, as he seemed only to have 



KING- OF NEPAUL. Ill 



just sense enougli to be able to gratify the brutal 
and sensual passions to which he is a prey ; 
whether the stories of wholesale executions of 
slaves taking place in his court-yard merely for 
his amusement are true or not, I cannot say, but 
he looked capable of any wickedness, and, 
though not more than twenty-two or twenty- 
three years old, had already rivalled the atroci- 
ties of Nero. His countenance was not unlike 
those depicted on the walls of Indian towns, 
with the same large staring eyes, thin twisted 
moustache, sensual lips, and thick bull neck. 
His dress was handsome, and his jewels were 
magnificent ; but in dress, in carriage, and in 
dignity of manner, the prime minister was un- 
questionably the most distinguished looking man 
in Durbar. He wore a magnificent robe of 
white silk embroidered with gold, and tight 
pantaloons of rich brocade, which set off his 
slim figure to advantage ; his turban was a mass 
of sparkling diamonds, and his whole person 
seemed loaded with jewels. His sturdy body- 
guard, all armed with double-barrelled rifles, 
stood close behind his chair, and were the only 
soldiers in the tent ; the nonchalant way in 
which he addressed the rajah, with folded arms 
and unbended knee, betokened the unbounded 
power he possesses in the state. Perhaps it is 
not very politic in him to arrogate so much to 
himself in a land where every man's ha.nd is 



112 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

against Mm, in proportion as lie is feared by 
every one from Ms majesty downwards. 

On each side of the tent stood a row of grandees 
of the realm, amongst whom the eight brothers 
of Jung Bahadoor held conspicuous places, while 
kazies and sirdars continued the line, until they 
were lost in the crowd of minor of&cers. 

The blaze of jewels, and the glitter of gold and 
silver, were calculated to strike an European 
spectator with astonishment, and he might well 
be startled at so magnificent a display in a high- 
land court. 

I observed a few English and French uniforms, 
covered with a great deal more of gold and 
silver lace than they were entitled to ; all which 
gaudy array was the more striking to me when 
I remembered that I had on a plaid shooting- 
coat and felt hat. I had no opportunity of ex- 
plaining to his majesty that plaid shooting-coats 
and felt hats are the court costume in England, 
but no doubt he thought it all correct. It is, 
moreover, the prerogative of Englishmen to sit 
in the presence of Oriental potentates with their 
hats on, which prevented my secreting my shabby 
old wide-awake as I had intended. 

As I sat next but one to the minister, I was 
under the immediate protection of the rifles and 
pistols, which latter implements protruded in a 
most formidable manner from the belts of the 
body-guard. As various Nepaulese nobles of 



A BRILLIANT RECEPTION. 113 

doubtful politics sat in front of his Excellency, 
lie felt these gentlemen-at-arms were peculiarly 
valuable additions to his retinue, as being ready 
to act either on the offensive or defensive at a 
moment's notice. Everything, however, went 
off with the most perfect harmony ; a few com- 
pliments were exchanged between himself and 
his sovereign, and the meeting broke up after 
the usual ceremony of giving and receiving pawn. 
This consisted in the presentation by both the 
kings, to every stranger present, of a small pyra- 
midal packet of leaves, which, when opened by 
the favoured recipient, was found to contain a 
few other leaves, stuck together by slimy sub- 
stances, of unpleasant appearance and aromatic 
odour. Fortunately, you were not compelled to 
partake of this in the presence of the royal donor, 
and means were found to dispose of it slily on 
leaving his majesty's audience-chamber. * 

As we were driving back to the Residency, it 
struck me that the history of a man who, at so 
early an age, had raised himself from being an 
ensign in the army to the powerful position 
which the grand display at his reception had just 
proved him to hold in his own country, would 
be interesting, if it were possible to gain any in- 
formation on the subject that could be relied 
upon. I therefore determined to collect the best 
that it was in my power to obtain ; and the fol- 
lowing particulars, gathered partly from himself, 
and partly from one who has had many opportu- 



114 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

nities of becoming acquainted with Ms history, 
form, I believe, a trustworthy account of a career 
which, from its tragic nature, is invested with a 
thrilling interest, while it faithfully portrays the 
eventful changes usually attending the life of an 
Oriental statesman. 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 115 



CHAPTER IX. 

Sketch of the career of Hi3 Excellency General Jung Bahadoor, Prime 
Mmister of Nepaul. 

It will be necessary before commencing an ac- 
count of the career of Jung Bahadoor to describe 
the state in which the political affairs of Nepaul 
were when his ambition and daring prompted 
him to play so important a part in its govern- 
ment. Cool, courageous, and an adept in all 
arts of intrigue, he possessed every qualification 
necessary to render a man successful in the East, 
where native courts are incessantly torn asunder 
by rival factions, and scenes of violence and 
bloodshed are the result of plots and counter- 
plots, as each party becomes for the time pre- 
dominant, and its leading man assumes the ofl&ce 
of Premier, to be soon after deprived of his short- 
lived greatness by a successful conspiracy of the 
opposing party. These in their turn share the 
same fate, the King and country remaining pas- 
sive spectators of the struggles between the op- 
posing factions. They are indeed uninteresting 
to the King, for he is only too delighted to get 
any one to take the cares of government off his 
shoulders, and considers his prerogative to con- 
sist in. enjoying himself as much as possible. 



116 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

They are equally uninteresting to tlie country, 
for these violent dissensions do not arise upon 
questions of policy, in any way affecting its go- 
vernment. Ministerial explanations are never 
asked for nor given in the East. The power of 
the prime minister is absolute till he is shot, 
when it becomes unnecessary to question the ex- 
pediency of his measures, and the people are only 
interested to this extent, that, generally speaking, 
the longer a Premier can maintain his position, 
by so much is their prosperity increased. 

The two rival factions in Nepaul were the 
Pandees and Thapas, and in the early part of 
this century the reins of government were held by 
one of the most enlightened men that ever attain- 
ed to the position of prime minister. Bheem 
Singh Thapa has left behind him numerous mo- 
numents of his greatness, calculating, like Napo- 
leon, that his fame would last at least as long as 
they did. For an unusual number of years did 
this able minister retain the management of 
affairs. He was ultimately placed in confinement. 
on the charge of being accessory to the murder 
of the Rajah's children by poison. His enemies 
resorted to an ingenious, though cruel device, to 
rid themselves altogether of so dreaded a rival. 
Knowing his high spirit and keen sense of 
honour, they spread the report that the sanctity 
of his Zenana had been violated by the soldiery, 
which so exasperated him that he committed 
suicide, and was found in his cell with his throat 



JUNa BAHADOOR. 117 



cut from ear to ear ; this occurred in the year 
1839. His property was of course confiscated, 
and the greater part of his family banished. 
His successor, Ram Singh Pandee, did not long 
enjoy his ill-gotten power, for, having been dis- 
covered intriguing against the British with the 
ministers of other native courts, he was removed 
at the representations of our government. Mah- 
tabar Singh, a nephew of the former prime 
minister, Bheem Singh Thapa, had meantime 
ingratiated himself with the Ranee (Queen), and 
through her influence succeeded in getting him- 
self appointed to the vacant post of premier — 
when, as was to be expected, his first act was to 
decapitate his predecessor, and as many of the 
Pandee's family as possible. 

The brother of Mahtabar Singh was a kazi, 
commanding a portion of the army stationed on 
the north-west frontier of Nepaul, and the se- 
cond of his eight sons was Jung Bahadoor, then 
a subadar, or ensign. The independent spirit 
which the young man had manifested from a boy 
led him into frequent scrapes with the old kazi, 
and he used to escape the punishments which 
they entailed by absconding altogether, and 
remaining absent until he thought his father's 
wrath had subsided, or until, as was oftener the 
case, his own resources were expended. These, 
however, he usually found means to replenish by 
his expertness at all games of chance with cards 
and dice, and early in life he became an ac- 



118 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

complislied gambler. He was moreover a great 
favourite amongst the soldiers, as well from his 
readiness to join tliem in any wild scheme, as 
from his skill in all manly exercises and ac- 
complishments. At last the young officer, im- 
patient of being under command, decided upon a 
bolder step than a mere temporary absence 
without leave, and thinking, no doubt, that it 
was a duty he owed to society to improve him- 
self as much as possible by seeing the world, 
he walked across the Nepaul frontier into 
Upper India, and profitably employed his time 
by turning his powers of observation to account, 
thereby gaining considerable insight into the 
mode of government and resources of our Indian 
possessions. 

After a time his own resources became so 
greatly diminished that he was obliged to return, 
trusting to his powers of acting the repentant 
prodigal to avert the torrent of his father's 
wrath. The breach of discipline which he had 
committed was as readily overlooked in Nepaul 
as it would have been in other more civilised 
countries, when the offender has good interest to 
back him ; and promotion to the command of a 
company was given him as the reward of his ser- 
vices while ensign. About this period Jung 
Bahadoor received the intelligence of the ad- 
vancement of his uncle, Mahtabar Singh, to the 
office of prime minister. So fine a chance for an 
adventurous spirit to push his fortune at court 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 119 



was not to be lost, and once more bidding adieu 
to the dull out-station at which he was posted, 
to the constraint of discipline, and to the grum- 
blings of the old martinet, his father ,.he followed 
the example of many great men before him, and 
betook himself to the capital, thinking it the 
only place in which his talents could be appre- 
ciated. Here he possessed frequent opportuni- 
ties of displaying that aptitude for intrigue to 
which he mainly owes his present position, 
coupled as it was with a daring that hesitated 
not at the performance of any act which his keen 
perception and subtle understanding pointed out 
as necessary for the advancement of his own in- 
terests. Jung soon after accompanied a secret 
mission to Benares, to meet one from the north- 
west, with the view of organising a war against 
the British. The vigilance of our authorities, 
however, discovered the existence of this conspi- 
racy, and Jung, together with his compatriots, 
was ignominiously taken back to his own fron- 
tier, and there liberated. On his return to the 
capital he led much the same life as before, dab- 
bling not a little in politics ; and the ambitious 
views which now began to actuate him rendered 
him obnoxious to the young prince, then a mere 
boy of eighteen, who, nevertheless, seemed to share 
with his father a portion of the executive. In- 
deed it was difficult to say in whom the sovereign 
authority rested : for the Ranee, or wife of the 
old King, had, with the assistance of Mahtabar 



120 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Singh, the prime minister, gained a great influ- 
ence over the mind of the monarch, who seems 
to have become nearly imbecile. 

It was parhaps the near relationship of Jung 
to the prime minister that brought upon him the 
ill-will of the Prince, who treated him with the 
most unmitigated animosity, and used every 
means in his power surreptitiously to destroy 
him. On one occasion he ordered him to cross 
a flooded mountain torrent on horseback, and 
when he had reached the middle of the current, 
which was so furiously rapid that his horse could 
with difi&culty keep his footing, the young Prince 
suddenly called him back, hoping that, in the act 
of turning, the force of the stream would over- 
power both horse and rider. This danger Jung 
escaped, owing to his great nerve and presence 
of mind. In relating this anecdote he seemed to 
think that his life had been in more imminent 
peril than on any other occasion ; though the 
following struck me as being a much more 
hazardous exploit. After the affair of the tor- 
rent the Prince was no longer at any pains to 
conceal his designs upon the life of the young 
adventurer, and that life being of no particular 
value to any one but Jung himself, it was a mat- 
ter of perfect indifference to anybody and every- 
body whether the Prince amused himself by 
sacrificing Jung to his own dislikes or not. It 
is by no means an uncommon mode of execution 
in Nepaul to throw the unfortunate victim down 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 121 



a well : Juno; had often tliouo'lit that it was 
entirely the fault of the aforesaid victim if he 
did not come up again alive and unhurt. In 
order to prove the matter satisfactorily, and also 
be prepared for any case of future emergency, he 
practised the art of jumping down wells, and 
finally perfected himself therein. When, there- 
fore, he heard that it Avas the intention of the 
Prince to throw him down a well, he was in no 
way dismayed, and only made one last request, 
in a very desponding tone, which was, that an 
exception might be made in his favour as regarded 
the being cast down, and tliat he might be per- 
mitted to throw himself down. This was so rea- 
sonable a request that it was at once granted ; 
and, surrounded by a large concourse of people — 
the Prince himself being present by way of a 
morning's recreation — Jung repaired to the well, 
where, divesting himself of all superfluous articles 
of clothing, and looking very much as if he were 
bidding adieu for ever to the happy valley of Ne- 
paul, he crossed his legs, and, jumping boldly down, 
was lost to the view of the prince and nobles, a 
dull splash alone testifying to his arrival at the 
bottom. Fortunately for Jung there was plenty 
of water — a fact of which most probably he was 
well aware — and there were, moreover, many 
chinks and crannies in the porous stone of which 
the well was built ; so, having learnt his lesson, 
Jung clung dexterously to the side of the well 
until midnight, when his friends, who had beeii 

6 



122 JOURaSTET TO KATMANDU. 

previously apprised of the part tliey were to per- 
form, came and rescued Mm from liis uncomforta- 
ble position, and secreted him until affairs took 
such a turn as rendered it safe for Jung Baha- 
door to resuscitate himself. Such was the adven- 
ture of the well, which, marvellous as it may 
appear, was gravely related to me by his Excel- 
lency, who would have been very much scandal- 
ised if I had doubted it, which of course I did 
not. 

While in a story-telling mood, I may as well 
relate an account that was given me of the man- 
ner in which Jung distinguished himself on one 
occasion with a musk elephant. The story is 
interesting, as it was by such daring feats that 
he won for himself the reputation of being the 
most undaunted sportsman in Nepaul. The ele- 
phant in question had been for some time the 
terror of the neighbourhood, nor was any one 
found hardy enough to attempt the capture of 
the rabid monster. At last, so notorious became 
Ms destruction of life and property that Jung 
heard of it, and at once determined to encounter 
him. The animal was in the habit of passing 
along the narrow street of a village in the course 
of his nocturnal depredations. One night Juug 
posted himself on the roof of a low outhouse, and, 
as the huge brute walked under the roof, made a 
vigorous leap, which landed him on the neck of 
the elephant, and, in spite of all the efforts of the 
infuriated animal, there he maintained his posi- 



JUXG BAHADOOR. * 123 



tion until he succeeded in blindfolding him with 
a cloth, and in securing him to a tree, amidst the 
shouts of the populace. Lest this story should 
seem too improbable to be credited, it may be 
remarked that a musk elephant is often, as was 
the case in this instance, a tame one, which at a 
particular season becomes rabid, and, breaking- 
loose, is the terror of the neighbourhood until 
recaptured. 

During this eventful period in Jung Bahadoor's 
life, his uncle, Mahtabar Singh, continued to ad- 
minister the affairs of government Avith tolerable 
success ; but the Ranee, to whom he was beholden 
for the position he occupied, turned the influence 
she had thus obtained over him to a bad account, 
and this gallant soldier and popular minister 
ultimately became distrusted and feared by his 
own friends, with whom the Ranee was no favour- 
ite. This unprincipled woman ill repaid the 
devotion of her minister, for, on his refusing to 
comply with her request that he should put to 
death some of her personal enemies, she became 
at once his implacable foe, and ruthlessly resolved 
upon the destruction of her hitherto devoted ally. 
Thus Mahtabar Singh found himself alienated 
from and distrusted by his own faction, while he 
was abandoned by his former patroness, for 
whose favour he had sacrificed their adherence. 
The Ranee did not hesitate to apply to this very 
party for assistance in the furtherance of her 
nefarious design, and the prime minister was 



124 " JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

doomed to fall a victim to his own indecision by 
the hands of his favourite nephew. 

One night, about eleven o'clock, a messenger 
came from the palace to inform him that his ser- 
vices were required by their Majesties — for the 
Queen had always kept up a semblance of friend- 
ship with him. Without the slightest suspicion 
he repaired to the palace, but scarcely had he 
ascended the great staircase, and was entering 
the room in which their Majesties were seated, 
when the report of a pistol rung through the 
room ; the fatal bullet pierced the heart of the 
gallant old man, who staggered forward, and fell 
at the feet of the wretched woman who had been 
the instigator of the cruel murder. 

It is difficult to say what were the motives that 
prompted Jung Bahadoor to the perpetration of 
this detestable act, of which he always speaks 
now in terms of the deepest regret, but asserts 
that it was an act of necessity, from which there 
was no escaping. The plea which he invariably 
uses when referring to the catastrophe is, that 
either his life or his uncle's must have been sacri- 
ficed, and he naturally preferred that it should 
be the latter. However that may be, the im- 
mediate eifect was, the formation of a new minis- 
try, in which Jung held office in the capacity of 
commander-in-chief. The premier, Guggun Singh, 
was associated with two colleagues. A year had 
hardly elapsed before Guggun Singh was shot 
while sitting in his own room. This occurred 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 125 



in the year 1846 ; a sirdar was taken up on sus- 
picion of having committed this murder, and 
Abiman Singh, one of the premier's colleagues, 
was ordered by the Queen to put him to death ; 
as, however, the Rajah would not sanction the 
execution, Abiman Singh refused to obey the 
command — a proceeding on his part which seems 
to have raised a suspicion in the mind of Jung 
that he had been concerned in the assassination. 
This suspicion he communicated to Futteh Jung, 
the other colleague of the late prime minister, 
suggesting that Abiman Singh and the sirdar al- 
ready in custody should be forthwith executed, 
and Futteh Jung installed as prime minister. 
Futteh Jung, however, refused to accede to so 
strong a measure ; and Jung, who was not of a 
nature to be thwarted in his plans, determined 
upon temporarily depriving him of his liberty, in 
order to enable him to put the design into execu- 
tion himself. 

He had no sooner decided upon his line of con- 
duct than he displayed the utmost resolution in 
carrying it out. On the same night, and while 
at the palace, the suspicions which Jung already 
entertained were confirmed by his observing that 
Abiman Singh ordered his men to load. It was 
no time for hesitation. The two colleagues, 
with many of their adherents, were assembled in 
the large hall, where the Queen, in a highly-ex- 
cited state, was insisting upon an immediate dis- 
closure of the murderer of Guggun Singh, who 



126 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

was supposed to have been lier paramour. At 
this moment Jung gave the signal for the seizure 
of Futteh Jung. The attempt was no sooner 
made than his son, Karak Bikram Sah, imagin- 
ing that his father's life was at stake, rushed for- 
ward to save him, and seizing a kukri, had al- 
ready dealt Bum Bahadoor a severe blow, when 
he was cut down by Dere Shum Shere Bahadoor, 
then a youth of -sixteen or seventeen. 

Futteh Jung, vowing vengeance on the murder- 
ers of his son, sprang forward to avenge his 
death, and in another moment Bum Bahadoor, 
already seriously wounded, would have fallen at 
his feet, when the report of a rifle rang through 
the hall, and the timely bullet sped by the hand 
of Jung Bahadoor laid the gallant father by the 
side of his no less gallant son. 

Thus Jung's coup dJetat had taken rather a dif- 
ferent turn from what he had intended ; the die, 
however, was cast, and everything depended 
upon his coolness and decision in the trying cir- 
cumstances in which he was placed. Though he 
may have felt that his life was in most imminent 
peril, it is difficult to conceive how any man could 
attain to such a pitch of cool desperation as to 
enact the scene which closed this frightful tra- 
gedy. There still confronted him fourteen of 
the nobles whose leader had been slain before 
their eyes, and who thirsted for vengeance ; but 
the appearance at his side of that faithful body- 
guard, on whose fidelity the safety of the minister 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 127 



has more than once depended, precluded them 
from seizing the murderer of their chief. It was 
but too clear to those unhappy men what was to 
be the last act of this tragedy. Jung received 
the rifle from the hand of the man next him, and 
levelled it at the foremost of the little band. 
Fourteen times did that fatal report ring through 
the hall as one by one the rifles were handed to 
one who would trust no eye but his own, and at 
each shot another noble lay stretched on the 
ground. Abiman Singh alone escaped the deadly 
aim ; he managed to reach the door, but there he 
was cut almost in two by the sword of Krishn 
Bahadoor. 

Thus, in a few moments, and by his own hand, 
had Jung rid himself of those whom he most 
feared. In that one room lay the corpses of the 
highest nobles of the land, shrouded by the dense 
smoke still hanging in the confined atmosphere, 
as if to hide the horrors of a tragedy that would 
not bear the light of day. The massacre now 
went on in all parts of the building. One 
hundred and fifty sirdars perished on that event- 
ful night, and the panic was wide-spread and 
general. Before day had dawned Jung Bahadoor 
had been appointed prime miniver of Nepaul, 
and had placed guards over the arsenal, treasury, 
and palace. 

In the morning the troops were all drawn up 
on parade ; before them were placed, in a ghastly 
heap, the bodies of their late commanders, to which 



128 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Jung pointed, as lie assured tlie army that it 
would find in him all that it had ever found in 
them, and he consoled many of the ofl&cers in a 
great measure for the loss they had just sustained 
by granting them immediate promotion. It seems 
as easy for a daring adventurer to gain the af- 
fections of an army in India as in Europe, and 
Jung found no difficulty in reconciling his Ghor- 
kas to a change of commanders, and they have 
ever since professed the greatest devotion to his 
person. 

The utmost caution was now necessary on the 
part of the new premier, who was obliged still 
to be on his guard, lest the partizans of those 
whom he had massacred should succeed in organ- 
izing a conspiracy against his life ; a sirdar was 
put to death simply because he had a private 
audience with the King. Circumstances soon 
showed that Jung had good reason to feel the in- 
security of his position. The two elder Princes, 
sons of a former Queen, had been for some time 
in confinement, and the Ranee now attempted to 
induce Jung to put them to death, in order to se- 
cure the throne for one of her own sons. This he 
positively refused to do, and his refusal brought 
upon him the %rath of this vindictive woman, 
whose vengeance had already been so signally 
wreaked on his uncle by his own instrumentality. 

He had not played so prominent a part on that 
occasion without profiting by the lesson he had 
learnt ; and knowing well the character of the 



JUNG BAH ADO OR. 129 



woman with whom he had to deal, he took care 
to obtain accurate intelligence of all that trans- 
pired at court. 

Information soon reached him that a plot was 
formed against his life, and that the post of pre- 
mier had already been promised to his intended 
murderer, as a reward for so dangerous a service. 
Once more the command, which had proved so 
fatal to Mahtabar Singh, issued from the palace, 
desiring the immediate attendance of the minis- 
ter ; the messenger was the very man at whose 
hand Jung was to meet his doom. He had scarcely 
delivered his treacherous message, when he was 
struck to the ground by one of the attendants of 
the prime minister. Jung then proceeded on his 
way to the palace, where he at once demanded of 
the Rajah to be dismissed from office, or to be 
furnished with authority to order the destruction 
of all the enemies of the heir-apparent. The 
King could not refuse to grant the authority de- 
manded ; and it was no sooner granted than Jung 
seized and beheaded all the adherents of the con- 
spirator. 

As the Ranee herself was the most inveterate 
enemy of the young Prince, the Rajah's order 
was at once carried into effect against her, and, 
to her infinite astonishment, she was informed by 
Jung that she was to leave Nepaul immediately, 
accompanied by her two sons. It was of no use 
to resist the successful young adventurer, whose 
indomitable courage and good fortune had tri- 

6* 



130 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

umplied over the plots and intrigues of his 
enemies, and who thus saw himself freed from 
every obstacle to his quiet possession of the 
gOYernment. 

The Rajah accompanied the Queen to Benares. 
Meantime the heir-apparent was raised to the 
throne, and the whole administrative power vest- 
ed in his minister. 

Upon hearing of the installation of his son as 
Rajah, the old Monarch seemed to evince, for the 
first and last time in his life, some little interest 
in proceedings by which he himself was so seri- 
ously affected, and the result was a feeble deter- 
mination not to relinquish his throne without a 
final struggle. Urged to this course probably 
by the persuasions of the ambitious and disap- 
pointed Ranee, he collected a few followers, and 
crossed the southern frontier of Nepaul. Jung, 
however, had received timely notice of his in- 
tention, and the luckless King had no sooner en- 
camped in the Nepaul dominions, than he was 
surprised at night by the troops of the minister, 
and his small forces utterly routed, four or five 
hundred remaining killed or wounded upon the 
field. The Rajah himself was taken prisoner, 
and placed in confinement by the dutiful son who 
now occupies the throne, and who sometimes al- 
lows him, on grand occasions, to take his seat 
upon it next to liimself. 

The vacillating conduct of the imbecile old 
man throughout his wliole reigu, the apathy with 



JQNG BAHADOOR. 131 



which he was contented to remain a passive spec- 
tator of those bloody dramas of which his court 
was for so long a period the theatre, deprive him 
of all claim to commiseration in his present de- 
graded position, which, in fact, is the natural re- 
sult of his indifference to the game so eagerly 
played by the contending parties, and of which 
the stake was his own throne. 

If, on the other hand, in a country where com- 
mon humanity, and still more every kind of 
principle, is unknown, daring and intrepid con- 
duct merits a- reward, Jung has fairly earned for 
himself the position he now holds ; and though 
his path to greatness has been deluged with the 
blood of the bravest nobles of the land, it must 
be admitted that the peace and prosperity which 
Nepaul now enjoys would never have been pos- 
sessed by her while distracted and convulsed by 
the struggles of hostile factions ; and much less 
would she ever have experienced the blessings of 
an enlightened administration, if these struggles 
had not resulted in the elevation of General Jung 
Bahadoor to the of&ce of prime minister. 

And now, for the first time in the history of 
Nepaul, the Durbar was to a certain extent 
united ; internal machinations were no longer to 
be feared ; and the country was ruled over by 
different members of that family, the elevation 
of which was due to one of their own number, 
who possessed sufficient daring and resolution to 



132 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

execute the bold, thougli unscrupulous schemes 
his undoubted genius had conceived. 

Such was the rapid rise to power at the early- 
age of thirty of General Jung Bahadoor, the 
Nepaulese ambassador to England, who would 
have been invested with a deeper interest than 
the mere colour of his face or brilliancy of his 
diamonds entitled him to, had the British public 
known the foregoing particulars of his eventful 
career. But, perhaps, it was as well for him 
that they did not, since our occidental notions 
as to the legitimate method of carrying political 
measures might have altogether excluded him 
from the favour of those who delighted to honour 
him during his visit to England ; but, in extenu- 
ation of his conduct, it must be remembered that 
the mode employed by him of gaining power is 
the common one in his country, and that his 
early training had induced a disregard of life 
and recklessness of consequences ; for he is not, 
I am convinced, naturally cruel. Impetuous and 
thoughtless, he has many generous and noble 
qualities ; and in a companionship of two months 
I discovered so many estimable traits in him, that 
I could not help making allowances for the 
defects in a character entirely self-formed by one 
ignorant of all moral responsibilities, the half- 
tamed son of an almost totally uncivilised coun- 
try. 

And while thus unreservedly relating his his- 



JUNG BAHADOOR. 133 



tory, I do so in the belief that he has no desire 
to conceal what, in his own mind and that of his 
oountrymen, is not regarded as crime, since I 
have frequently heard him refer, with all the 
simplicity of conscious innocence, to many of the 
facts I have related, and for some of which he 
himself is my authority. 

Having thus given a short account of the pre- 
vious career of this remarkable man, a few words 
on his present position and future prospects may 
not be uninteresting, the more so as he purposes, 
since he has visited the courts of Europe, to 
become an enlightened ruler of his countrymen. 



134 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER X. 

The titles of his Excellency General Jung Bahadoor Coomaranagee in 
England — Extraordinary notions of the British puhlic on Indian afifairs — 
Jung Bahadoor's concihatory policy — Our unsuccessful attempt to pene- 
trate beyond the permitted boundaries — Dangerous position of ,the 
Prime Minister — His philanthropic designs — Great opposition on the 
part of the Durbar — Native punishments — A Nepaulese chief-justice — 
Jung's popularity with the peasantry and army. 

The rumours in England during Jung Bahadoor's 
short residence there — of who he was, of what 
position he held, of his having taken his greatest 
enemies with him to keep them from conspiring 
against him while absent^of his being at least 
a Prince, if not the Rajah himself in disguise — 
were as far from correct, and as improbable, as 
were the numerous stories related of him in the 
newspapers, many of which had no foundation 
whatever, and in no way redounded to his credit. 
The subject, however, of so much speculation 
was generally too much pleased with his noto- 
riety to care for the means which in some mea- 
sure obtained it for him ; and I have heard him 
repeat with great glee some imaginary anecdote 
of himself, or laughingly enumerate the various 
appellations by which he had been known. 
Amongst the few words of English which he 
could pronounce, were those by which he was 



TITLES OF JUNG BAHADOOR. 135 

most frequently addressed, — such as, the Prince, 
the Ambassador, your Highness, your Excellency, 
the Minister, Jung Bahadoor, Jung, or more 
often " the Jung." Whilst the appearance of 
the Coomaranagee Polkas showed an unusual 
amount of correct information on the part of 
the publisher. 

Such ignorance might have been expected from 
the utter indifference manifested in England 
towards Indian affairs. The ideas of John Bull 
upon the subject are often ludicrous in the 
extreme, as he finds it impossible to divest him- 
self of the preconceived notions which he surely 
must have been born with when he pertinaciously 
imagines that all dark-coloured people have 
woolly heads and thick lips, and speak the 
broken English of the negro ; nor has he the 
slightest conception of the relative position of 
great towns in India, or which States are inde- 
pendent ; or who the Nizam is, or if his contin- 
gent is not some part of his dress ; or whether 
the Taj is not the husband of the Begum men- 
tioned in Pendennis. He has a vague notion 
that nabobs come from India, and has heard per- 
haps of cabobs, but what the difference is, or 
whether they are not articles of Indian export 
usually packed in casks, he has not the most 
remote conception. For all the light, therefore, 
that John Bull could throw upon the subject of 
who or what Jung Bahadoor was, besides being 
the Nepaulese ambassador, or where the country 



136 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

was that lie came to represent, it miglit remain a 
mystery to tlie present day. 

But even supposing the public were better in- 
formed on Indian affairs, it would not be a 
matter of surprise that they should be under a 
misconception as to what Jung's position in his 
own country might be, seeing that it is not usual 
amongst European nations to send their prime 
ministers on foreign missions. But to estimate 
correctly the minister's power and authority, the 
word " send " perhaps ought not to be used in 
this case, since he was a self-appointed ambassa- 
dor ; and his next brother was left by him to 
perform the arduous duties attendant on the 
important ofiice which he vacated for a while. 

And now that he is returned to resume the 
reins of government, and once more become 
involved in the petty intrigues of his highland 
court, it is natural that he should look back with 
delight, not unmingled with regret, at the 
wonders he has so lately witnessed — the, to him, 
magical effects of the operations of steam — the 
still more incomprehensible electric telegraph — 
our institutions — our court — the magnificence of 
the successive entertainments, of which he could 
say " Magna pars fui," and at which he was not 
more the spectator than the spectacle : but, 
above all, was it a matter of astonishment to him 
that such hospitality should have been shown 
to an unknown and ignorant stranger by a 
nation whose enterprise is no less stirrins: than 



Jung's conciliatory policy. 137 

her resources are vast, and in the midst of a 
social machinery to him so incomprehensibly 
intricate in its details. 

" Why," he would observe after his return to 
Katmandu, " should I attempt to tell these poor 
ignorant people what I have seen ? It would 
be as ridiculous in me to suppose they would 
believe it as it is hopeless to attempt to make 
them understand it." And he feels that the 
information he has acquired has been too exten- 
sive to allow him to sink to the level of those by 
whom he is surrounded. But, while anxious to 
increase his popularity, with his attempts at con- 
ciliation is combined a patronizing air, Avhich he 
cannot conceal, and which is calculated to 
render him unpopular, even could he bring him- 
self to return to the old system of embracing 
instead of shaking hands ; of taking off his shoes 
when entering the Durbar ; of salaaming ere he 
addresses his Monarch — all which acts of devo- 
tion and homage are repugnant to the man who 
has had an interview with the Queen of England, 
and received a visit from the Duke of Welling- 
ton. " When that great warrior called upon 
me," he says, " I felt it to be the proudest 
moment of my life :" and at Benares, when, upon 
the occasion of his visiting a native Rajah, there 
was a question of whether he should go in state 
or not, he decided the matter by saying, " I shall 
go just as I went to return the Duke's visit ;" or, 
at another time, " I will receive the Rajah in a 



138 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

friendly way, just as I did the Duke when lie 
called upon me." Nothing seemed to impress 
him so deeply as the absence of all display where 
genuine greatness rendered it unnecessary ; and 
he looks with no slight contempt upon the pomp 
to which he in common with his court was for- 
merly so much attached. That court, however, 
retaining of course its old unenlightened senti- 
ments, looks with suspicion and distrust on the 
independent manners of the returned prime 
minister. " He has become a Feringhee." — "He 
wants to introduce their barbarous customs 
amongst us." — " He brings visitors, and is mak- 
ing friends with the English, in order to betray 
us to them." This is said by his enemies at 
court ; and, while they watch his every action, 
esteem him a traitor, who, if they did but know 
it, is the best friend of their country. Thus, in 
spite of his earnest desire to promote its welfare, 
he is likely to be thwarted, and his ardent and 
somewhat impatient temperament will not, it is 
to be feared, improve matters, however good his 
intentions may be. That he is already careful 
lest he offend any prejudices, I had a convincing 
and most annoying proof. 

On the journey through India, while in high 
spirits, out shooting, he had promised to allow 
us to travel over any part of Nepaul we might 
wish to visit — a permission never yet granted 
to any European. To the fulfilment of this 
promise we naturally looked with no small plea- 



DANGEROUS POSITION. 139 

sure ; but, after a residence of a week in Nepaul, 
the anti- Anglican feeling was so strongly mani- 
fested', that the mere fact of four or five European 
visitors having been in Katmandu (for Lord 

Gr and his party were among his guests) 

brought upon him a certain degree of odium. 

To allow strangers to visit Nepaul, and reside 
at Katmandu, was unusual, but bearable ; the 
idea of a common beef-eater infringing the limits 
of a circle beyond which no British •resident, 
much less traveller, had ever penetrated, was so 
monstrous a heresy on the part of the prime 
minister — so serious an infraction of a well- 
established rule — that even Jung felt it to be too 
unpopular an act by which to celebrate his 
return to his country. It was with much regret 
that we were obliged to relinquish so interesting 
an enterprise. I must not, however, forget his 
offer to adhere to his promise if we wished it, 
saying at the same time that his doing so would 
seriously compromise him. But, as compromise 
and decapitate may be looked upon as synony- 
mous terms in Nepaul, we felt that it was hardly 
fair to our kind host to place him in such aa 
awkward position ; and as, moreover, the effect 
of his being so compromised in Katmandu would 
have probably entailed upon us a precisely 
similar fate, we considered it hardly fair to the 
guests either. But while thus hanging back 
from his promise on the score of compromising 



140 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

himself, I am fully persuaded that personal con- 
siderations had but little to do in the matter. 
He is looking out for means of usefulness, and it 
was more the fear of retarding his schemes of 
improvement by thus increasing the popular dis- 
content that induced him to change his mind, 
than any hope of retaining his head upon his 
shoulders. The difficulty of doing this can be 
but very slightly increased ; and it must be 
admitted that he esteems life as lightly in his 
own case as he formerly did when others were 
concerned. 

It cannot but be regretted that with so pure 
an object he should be totally without co-opera- 
tion from any quarter. The young King, capable 
only of aiding in nefarious schemes, such as 
those already recounted, can in no way compre- 
hend the new-fangled philanthropic views of the 
prime minister. He cares little about the wel- 
fare of his country ; his amusement seems to 
consist in concocting and executing bloody 
designs, and his mind must be so accustomed to 
this species of excitement that it can scarce do 
without it. It is unfortunate that the Rajah's 
hobby should lie in this peculiar direction, more 
unfortunate still that the contemplated victim 
should be Jung ; for I presume that there is 
little doubt that the King's brother, who was 
engaged in the last conspiracy against the mi- 
nister's life — which took place a few days after 



Jung's philanthropic designs. 141 

my visit — must have acted with the knowledge, 
and most probably at the instigation, of his Ma- 
jesty. 

Nor can Jung look to his brothers for support 
as in times of old : one of them, whom he esteem- 
ed amongst the most faithful, was, as before 
mentioned, deeply implicated in the same at- 
tempt on his life ; and there is no one now on 
whom he can confidently depend in the hour of 
need except the two youngest of the family, who 
accompanied him to England, and whom I consi- 
der thoroughly devoted to his interests. De- 
serted by his King, who owes his throne to him, 
his life conspired against by one of his own bro- 
thers, bound to him by the yet stronger ties of 
blood, he stands alone a mark for the dagger of 
any one who would win the approval of his 
degraded Sovereign. But his bearing is not the 
less bold, or his eye less piercing, as he makes 
the man quail before him who is that moment 
planning his destruction. He anticipates the 
fate of his fourteen predecessors ; they were all 
assassinated ! His predecessors, however, did 
not surround themselves with a guard armed 
with rifles always loaded.* In all probability 
the man who takes the life of the prime minister 
will do so at the price of his own. So securely 



* The arms of his body-guard were bought in London, of 
Purdy, Lancaster, and other eminent rifle makers, and cost 
Jung about 20001. 



142 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

guarded is lie, and so careful of his own safety, 
that I cannot but hope he may live to frustrate 
the designs of his enemies, and to carry out 
that enlightened policy which, while it morally 
elevates the people, would develop the resources 
of a country possessing many natural advan- 
tages, in its delightful climate, fertile soil, and 
industrious population. Yalleys unvisited by 
civilization save as received through the medium 
of a few semi-barbarous travellers, may contain 
treasures which they are now unknown to pos- 
sess ; mines of copper, lead, and antimony, now 
clumsily worked, may be made to yield of their 
abundance ; tracts of uncultivated lands be 
brought into rich cultivation, and efficient means 
of transport would carry their produce far and 
wide through the country. Katmandu itself 
would be on the high road for the costly trade 
of Chinese Tartary and Thibet with the pro- 
vinces of Upper India. 

In fact it is impossible to enumerate the 
various benefits which would accrue to the 
country were a different system of government 
adopted ; and it is much to be feared that unless 
the present prime minister lives to accomplish 
the task he has undertaken, no one of his suc- 
cessors, for some time to come at least, will have 
either the will or the ability requisite for its 
successful consummation. 

In some of his legislative acts Jung had shown 
himself to be in advance of his age before he 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR A MINISTER. 143 

left Nepaul. No less than twenty-two punish- 
ments for various crimes, principally consisting 
of different modes of torture, were abolished. 
A thief must have been three times convicted of 
the crime ere he can suffer the penalty entailed 
upon the offence, viz., loss of his hand ; and 
after it is cut off, he has his choice between hav- 
ing it bound up or allowing himself to bleed to 
death. I understood the latter alternative to be 
the one usually chosen by the culprit. Gambling 
is strictly prohibited in Nepaul, except for four 
or five days during the celebration of the Devali. 

Women are not liable to capital punishment. 
The mutilation of noses no longer exists, al- 
though some years ago it was the most usual punish- 
ment, and one village was entirely peopled by 
the unfortunate victims of such barbarous treat- 
ment. 

The amount of labour which his position as 
prime minister entails upon Jung is almost 
incredible ; the simplest bargain cannot be 
struck, nor a cooly engaged, nor can a departure 
or an arrival take place, without his sign ma- 
nual. In fact he comprises within himself the 
whole of the ministry, besides doing the entire 
duty of the several departments, and the ofiice 
of premier in Nepaul can be no more a sinecure 
than it is in England. One can only wonder that 
a position fraught with such imminent danger to 
its possessor, and bringing upon him such inces- 
sant trouble and responsibility, should be so 



144 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

eagerly sought, wken it entails tlie almost absolute 
certainty of a violent death. With us moral 
courage is an indispensable quality for a prime 
minister ; in Nepaul, physical courage is no less 
needed. If he is a good shot, and expert with 
his kukri and kora, so much the better for him. 
As regards both these accomplishments Jung was 
eminently qualified for the post he now holds ; 
but his literary acquirements were of a very low 
order, for upon becoming prime minister he 
could neither read nor write. Finding great 
inconvenience from his incapacity in these re- 
spects, he applied himself diligently to his alpha- 
bet, and was soon able to carry on all official 
correspondence of any importance to himself. 
The whole of the political, fiscal, and judicial 
communications are submitted to him, and the 
departments controlled by him, very little re- 
gard being had to the Rajah's will on the sub- 
ject. 

The next officer in rank to Jung Bahadoor 
is his brother. Bum Bahadoor, who bears the 
mark on his hand of the horrible action in Dur- 
bar already recorded. He appeared inferior 
in ability to his brother, but it is difficult to 
judge of the^ talent of any one who is in a subor- 
dinate position in Nepaul. 

The Raj Guru is the highest spiritual dignita- 
ry in Nepaul, and in that capacity received the 
greatest deference from every one, including 
Jung, wliose popularity in some measure rests 



THE RAJ GURU. 145 



on his intimate relations with the chief priest, to 
whom he invariably paid every mark of respect. 
The Raj Guru met us at Benares, and granted 
indulgences to those who had visited England. 
So great is the respect shown him, that upon en- 
tering his presence the prime minister invariably 
touched with his forehead the foot of the holy 
man. To the office of spiritual adviser to the 
Rajah is added that of judge of the spiritual 
court, which is one of great emolument, arising 
chiefly from fines levied on the infraction of re- 
ligious ceremonies or ordinances — such as the 
killing or maltreating of a cow and other like 
enormities. 

Next in order follow the Kazies, or " Patres 
conscripti," who ought to possess some voice in 
the administration of affairs, but are content to 
remain silent during the independent rule of the 
Minister Sahib. They number thirty or forty, 
and their duty is to consult upon all weighty 
matters connected with the Government, while 
some act as governors of provinces, others as 
judges in important causes. 

Then come the Sirdars, who also decide causes, 
and possess considerable authority in the more 
remote districts, governing some of the provinces, 
and superintending the collection of revenue. 
Their number is far larger than that of the Ka- 
zies. 

We visited the supreme court one day and saw 
the Chief-justice, or Burma Dikar, sitting cross: 

1 



146 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

legged (smoking his hookah on the verandah), 
the court having adjourned. The old man bore 
that venerable appearance which is everywhere 
esteemed inseparable from the judicial character, 
and I doubted whether his long grey beard was 
not a more imposing, as it certainly was a more 
natural and graceful appendage than a wig. 

There are six law courts in Katmandu, pre- 
sided over by Sirdars and Bicharees, and the 
laws and modes of punishment are very effectual 
for the prevention of crime ; for although a pri- 
soner cannot be convicted except upon his own 
confession, he may be subjected to an ordeal 
which will most probably extort it ; and, per- 
haps, in an eastern country justice is more effec- 
tually administered by such methods than where 
the judge decides on the guilt or innocence of a 
man by speculating on the character of the wit- 
nesses, and believing those who look most as if 
they were telling the truth ; and where, although 
he knows that all the witnesses are more or less 
bribed, he is not allowed to take any but a vo- 
luntary admission from the prisoner, when per- 
haps a little gentle persuasion would save a great 
deal of unnecessary trouble, to say nothing of the 
amount of lying that might thus be dispensed 
with. Whatever the laws may be, they seem to 
give perfect satisfaction to the inhabitants, who 
cannot be called a litigious race. 

While we were at Bisoleah, on our way to 
Katmandu, an interesting instance occurred of 



ANECDOTE OF JUNG. 147 

the prime minister taking the law into his own 
hands ; and, as far as we could judge, complete 
justice was done to the parties. A complaint 
was preferred by a deputation of the peasantry 
of the Terai against one of the sirdars who was 
a member of his suite, and who had been gover- 
nor of some part of the district before he had 
accompanied the minister on his expedition to 
England. It was alleged that he had, in con- 
nexion with his brother, who was an especial 
favourite with Jung, defrauded them of 25,000 
rupees. This charge was indignantly denied by 
the two sirdars. The case was fully entered 
into, and the result was, that Jung became con- 
vinced of the justice of the claim of the peasant- 
ry. He had no sooner satisfied himself on this 
point than he ordered both the noblemen to be 
placed in confinement, where they were to re- 
main until the required sum was forthcoming. 
The affair delayed us twenty-four hours ; and I 
perfectly well remember wondering at the time 
what could be the cause of a detention for so 
long a period in so unpleasant a locality ; more 
especially as by it we lost the chance of a day's 
rhinoceros shooting, which was, doubtless, as 
great a disappointment to Jung as to myself. 

By thus carefully protecting the interests of 
the peasantry he has endeared himself to them, 
since they are always sure of a ready and atten- 
tive hearing of any complaint, although it may 



148 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

affect tlie highest nobles in the land. In talking 
to a man who acted as guide on our return 
through the Terai, we discovered that the popu- 
larity of Jung, arising from this cause, had ex- 
tended across the frontier, and had induced my 
informant to migrate into the Nepaul dominions, 
so that he might benefit by the paternal rule of 
its prime minister. He said the taxes were 
lighter, and he led altogether a more happy and 
independent life than in the Company's domi- 
nions, where the native officers employed as tax- 
gatherers do not always display the most scrupu- 
lous honesty. 

But it is not with the peasantry alone that 
Jung is so deservedly a favourite. With the 
soldiers he is, if possible, still more popular. 
An admirer of Napoleon, he has profited by the 
perusal of his life, and turns to advantage his 
knowledge of the influence possessed in so won- 
derful a manner by one whom he seeks in every 
respect to imitate, so far as the difference of po- 
sition admits. That he has succeeded admirably 
with the army there is no doubt. His personal 
feats of daring and known courage are consider- 
able aids to an imitation of the more scientific 
means employed by his great model. 

Thus, firmly seated in the affections of the 
most important portions of the community over 
which he rules with unlimited power, and a most 
ardent wish to improve their condition, it will 



JUNG S POPULARITY. 149 



be on all accounts most deplorable if the country- 
is deprived of the services of so valuable a man 
by some vile plot, emanating from the petty in- 
trigue of a jealous and disappointed Durbar. 



160 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The temple of Balajee — The old Newai- capital — The houses and temples of 
Patn — View from the city gates — Nepaulese festivals — The Newars skilful 
artisans — The arsenal — The magazine and cannon-foundry. 

One afternoon we strolled across some verdant 
meadows, and along narrow shady avenues, to 
visit the temple of Balajee. There is nothing in 
the building itself worthy of notice ; but near it 
is a tank of beautifully clear water, filled with 
sacred fishes, which crowd near the visitor as he 
stands on the brink, expecting to be fed with 
grain, which some old women at the gate sell for 
their especial benefit. Balajee is one of those 
sheltered nooks which make the scenery of Ne- 
paul so attractive. Immediately under a wooded 
knoll the trees dip into a tank, from whence the 
water leaps in three tiny cascades into the court- 
yard of the temple, quaint and singular itself, 
and rendered still more interesting from its con- 
nexion with the sacred fonts and groves near 
which it is so romantically situated. 

Hitherto we had seen no Newar town. Kat- 
mandu, the capital of Nepaul, was built by the 
conquering Ghorkas, and is comparatively mo- 
dern. The old Newar capital is Patn : situated 
on a green slope, and fortified by a high wall, it 



THE OLD NEWAR CAPITAL. 151 

looks picturesque when seen from the modern 
city, from which it is distant about two miles. 

Crossing the narrow brick bridge which spans 
the Bhagmutty, outside the walls of the town, we 
shortly after entered the massive old gates of the 
ancient capital. As we trotted past the high 
rickety houses, along the brick pavement of the 
narrow streets, still slippery from the morning 
dew, we encountered troops of girls with gar- 
lands in their hair, for this was some festive day. 
At the corners of the streets were beings of both 
sexes, as decrepit as the houses under which they 
crouched, presiding over baskets full of beautiful 
flowers. The entire population were Newars, 
except a few fierce, mustachioed Ghorkas, who 
stood sentinels over the temples, or loitered 
about the guardhouse. The long street looked 
deserted ; there was not a single shop in it ; and 
the foot-passengers were few and far between. 
But the grand square was the chief feature of the 
place, and was well worthy of a visit. We 
looked with astonishment and delight at the 
incongruous mass of buildings, of the most varied 
and fantastic construction, yet massive and sub- 
stantial ; but whence the designs originated, or 
in what other part of the known world anything 
is to be seen approaching to the style of Newar 
architecture, it would be impossible to conjecture. 
Houses built of horn are said to exist at Lassa ; 
and from Lassa, I should imagine, came the de- 
signs for the temples and houses of Patn. Time 



152 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

has mellowed their bright colours — if they were 
ever painted at all like those at Katmandu — ^into 
a sombre, quiet grey. The Durbar, a huge, mass- 
ive building, is absolutely covered with black 
wood-carving. The care displayed in its execu- 
tion is still apparent through the mass of dust 
and cobwebs which almost conceal it ; for the 
old Durbar of Patn is deserted. The residence 
of the monarchs who ruled the happy valley is in 
strong contrast with the smiling appearance of 
their former territory. It alone seems to have 
gone into mourning for its former occupants, 
while the valley seems to thrive as well under 
the rule of the Ghorkas as it did under that of 
the Newars. The Durbar is of great extent, and 
occupies one side of the square, in the centre of 
which stand two monoliths, between 30 and 40 
feet high : on one of them is the figure of an 
angel, represented in all respects as angels usu- 
ally are, with the addition of a magnificent gilt 
tail ; this, together with a pair of large gilt 
wings, gave it a most gorgeous appearance. My 
Grhorka guide could give me no information as 
to what particular divinity this figure was in- 
tended to represent. The other pillar was 
crowned by the figure of a Newar monarch with 
an unpronounceable name, who was watched 
over by a cobra, standing upon its tail, and 
looking over his head with its mouth wide open. 
On the opposite side to that on which the 
Durbar was situated were two temples : one of 



TEMPLE OF PATN. 153 

them, built of grey sandstone, was an imposing 
structure, altogether different from any building, 
lay or ecclesiastical, that I had ever seen before. 
The lower story consisted of massive verandahs 
or cloisters ; the pillars were all of grey sand- 
stone, very simple in form ; and the connecting 
arch was somewhat Saracenic in its appearance. 
The temple was square, and the corridor which 
ran round it was elevated considerably above 
the level of the court : the ascent to it was by 
two flights of steps, each guarded by a pair of 
sculptured winged lions. Three stories of light 
belfry-like temples, three upon each side of the 
square, surmounted each other in rows ; in the 
centre was a mass of architecture between a 
dome and a spire, rising to a height of upwards 
of 100 feet above the level of the court : the 
whole formed a pyramidal structure ornamented 
with fantastic devices, and undoubtedly Bhuddist 
in its character. 

The other temple was a two-storied pagoda ; 
its bright colours were faded, and it appeared far 
inferior to those of more recent construction. 
There were also ruined pyramidal shrines of no 
known architecture, and difficult to describe from 
their complicated nature — antique specimens of 
the masonry of ages long gone by, and memorials 
of a religion doubtless impure, although Bhuddist 
in its character and origin. 

No less singular were the residences of the old 

Newar nobility, a race which no longer exists, 

'7* 



154 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. ^ 

and tlie only remains of -whicli now extant are 
their ruined habitations, evidently destined to 
succumb before long to the same all-destroying 
power which has long since obliterated every 
trace of their former owners. 

How different was the peculiar yet handsome 
style which distinguished the dwellings of the 
Newar nobles at Patn from the tawdry glitter 
which characterises the mansions of the present 
Ghorka chiefs in the modern capital ! Here the 
carving is more rich, the ornaments more mas- 
sive, the houses themselves are more lofty and 
capacious. Sometimes two or three elaborately- 
carved balconies adorn the sombre but not less . 
imposing exterior ; from the projecting eaves 
wooden tassels, forming a sort of fringe, swing to 
and fro over the windows. 

The roofs are beautifully tiled, each tile hav- 
ing a double curvature, while the corners of the 
buildings are quaintly turned up, giving a Chi- 
nese look to the building. The whole appear- 
ance of the houses and temples carries one far 
from the mud-huts or close cities of the plains of 
India, into the land of chopsticks and small feet, 
and the traveller feels much nearer to Pekin than 
to Calcutta as he wanders along the empty streets 
under the frowning houses and indescribable 
temples of the Newar town of Patn. 

Everything seemed to have been blighted by 
time ; besides all the old temples, old houses, old 
gates, and old streets, there were numbers of 



VIEW OF THE HIMALAYAS. 155 

old people. Everything seemed to sympathise 
with everything else, and had evidently come to 
the conclusion that there was nothing worth liv- 
ing for, and the sooner they all took themselves 
off and quitted the bright valley of Nepaul the 
better. And indeed it was difficult to realize the 
existence of anything half so cheerful inside 
the town as the prospect which met our view as 
we emerged from its gloomy entrance, and looked 
upon the luxuriant plain, the glittering capital 
shining in its midst, whose gaudy pagodas, hung 
round with bells and adorned with flags, were 
very different from those just visited ; the in- 
dustrious population were going light-hearted to 
their work as we rode through smiling fields, and 
we ceased to wonder at Patn looking deserted, 
for it was evident that all the cheerfully disposed 
inhabitants had flitted away, unable to bear its 
depressing influence, and leaving behind them 
only the crabbed old people at the corners of the 
streets, and the tattered beggars, who must 
make a meagre livelihood out of the falling 
temples and 24,000 rotten houses of the once 
handsome capital of Nepaul. 

It was a clear frosty morning, and, as we 
rode down the gentle slope on which the old city 
stands, the snowy range of the Himalaya burst 
upon us with inexpressible grandeur. The 
Gosain-than, a mass of glistening snow, looked 
contemptuously down upon the Jibjibia, itself 
covered with snow : though 13,000 feet lower 



156 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



than the Gosain-tlian, the Jibjibia in turn over- 
topped the Sheopoorie, which rises abruptly from 
the valley to a height of 2000 feet. On a penin- 
sula, formed by the junction of the Bhagmutty 
and Bishmutty, stands the town of Katmandu, 
surrounded by a high wall in which are four 
gates : to the east the snow-capped peaks ex- 
tend as far as the eye can reach ; to the west the 
Dawalogiri, the highest mountain in the world, 
is in clear weather distinctly visible ; in that di- 
rection the valley is shut in by lofty hills, the 
steepest of which is crossed by the Chandanagiri 
pass. 

The exhilarating effect of so glorious a scene 
seemed not to be lost upon the inhabitants them- 
selves, and we observed among them the same 
merry and contented appearance as that which is 
so remarkable amongst the inhabitants of Switz- 
erland and the Tyrol ; indeed mountaineers in 
general either have much fewer troubles than 
lowlanders, or take them less to heart. 

The Nepaulese, in common with most highland 
tribes, have strong religious feelings, and are 
bigoted adherents to a faith which they would 
find it somewhat difficult to define. One use to 
which they put their religion, and in which 
they far exceed even the Roman Catholics of 
the Alps, is, in making it furnish them with an 
almost unlimited number of holidays and festi- 
vals : no opportunity of merry-making is lost 
by the light-hearted inhabitants of Nepaul, and 



SKILL OF THE NEWARS. 157 

in this respect they are at once distinguishable 
from their more gloomy and saturnine conquerors, 
the Ghorkas, who, glorying only in the art of 
war, look with contempt on what they consider 
the frivolity of the Newars. 

There can be no doubt of the warlike character 
of the Ghorkas, even had not our own experience 
testified to the fact in a most unpleasant way. 
Not only are they brave and skilful soldiers, but, 
for a barbarous nation, they are wonderfully ad- 
vanced in the art of fabricating the implements 
of war ; they cast their own ordnance, manufac- 
ture their own muskets, shot, powder, and cart- 
ridge-boxes ; in fact, every instrument or weapon 
used in civilized warfare is manufactured in Ne- 
paul, often clumsily enough, but the mere fact of 
their being capable of being used, and used with 
effect, is highly creditable to the ingenuity of the 
Ghorkas. 

The NcAvars are still more skilful artisans than 
the Ghorkas, but their talent does not lie in the 
same direction. The bricks of Nepaul are de- 
servedly famed ; whether the virtue lies in the 
clay of which they are formed, or the skill with 
which they are made, I do not know — most pro- 
bably in both. The Newars excel also in bell- 
making ; it is the trade of the land ; they are all 
bellmakers from their youth, and proofs of their 
skill are exhibited hanging at the corners of 
pagodas, swinging from the roofs of houses, sur- 
mounting Dagobas — in fact, the device upon a 



158 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Nepaulese banner should be a bell. In jewellery 
they are no less expert, and are elaborate work- 
men in all metals. A species of coarse paper is 
manufactured by them from the bark of a tree, 
which is first reduced to a pulp and then spread 
over a sheet and dried. 

They are as excellent agriculturists as trades- 
men, and the rich soil of the valley is not allowed 
by the industrious peasants to lie fallow a mo- 
ment longer than is necessary. 

At certain seasons every inhabitant capable 
of wielding the hoe is at work, and there is much 
incentive to such industry, for the soil is inex- 
haustible, and seems as if it could go on for an 
indefinite period yielding its four crops a year — 
namely, wheat, rice, Indian corn, and vegetables 
— supporting thereby a double population. The 
plough is never used. It struck me that the in- 
troduction of buffaloes from the plains would he 
advantageous in assisting the worthy Newar, 
whose religious scruples prevent his using the 
bullock. There is a species of small buflalo, 
which is a native of the Himalayas, but it is 
never brought down by the Bhootyas into the 
plains, nor even to Katmandu. 

We went one day to visit the arsenal, Avhich a 
veteran of the Nepaul army took an especial de- 
light in exhibiting, and naturally looked for ex- 
pressions of wonder and delight from the bar- 
barians. But the only astonishment we felt was, 
that such a mass of fire-arms, so excessively old 



THE MAGAZINE. 159 



and so excessively dirty, should be thought 
worthy of being carefully ranged throughout the 
long dark rooms. In a corner of one of these 
rooms the light streamed brightly through a 
window on some old-fashioned firelocks bearing 
an English maker's name ; they were trophies of 
the war with the British, and were held worthy 
of conspicuous places in the Nepaul arsenal. The 
delighted old Colonel pointed these out to us 
with a laudable pride ; he said the arsenal con- 
tained 100,000 stand of arms, and expected us to 
believe it. Had they been in proper order, the 
collection would have been of importance numeri- 
cally considered. 

Their artillery was insignificant, but they pos- 
sessed trophies denied to many more powerful 
nations in a pair of brass 2-pounders, also taken 
from the British in the same disastrous campaign. 
I looked as abashed and mortified as I could, and 
pleased the Colonel exceedingly thereby. In the 
same establishment was carried on the process 
of manufacturing powder of a very coarse grain, 
and we were shown sundry store-rooms contain- 
ing grape and canister. 

Leaving the arsenal, we mounted our elephants, 
crossed the parade-ground and the river, and, 
passing through the massive gateway, reached 
the magazine, situated in the interior of the city, 
where we had an opportunity of witnessing the 
process of hammering iron into balls. The Ne- 
paulese can produce no heat sufficient to cast 



160 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

balls, and are, consequently, obliged to beat them 
into the required shape, an almost endless opera- 
tion. «By this tedious process the making of each 
two-pound ball occupies two men a whole day, 
and costs, including other incidental charges, 
about a rupee, so that the expenses of a siege 
would come rather heavy upon the Government. 
All round the courtyard blacksmiths were forging 
and hammering, while in the middle of it a num- 
ber of men were employed beating leather, so as 
to render it suf&ciently pliable to undergo the 
process of being trodden soft, a curious operation, 
and fatiguing to the muscles of any other legs 
than those of the Nepaulese, who keep continually 
doubling up the leather and treading it out again, 
and putting their feet to all sorts of uses, in 
which, if we had properly cultivated the gifts of 
nature, we should, doubtless, be equally skilled. 
At present our great object is to make our feet 
look smaller than they naturally are, and even 
in that the Chinese excel us, civilized though we 
be. The result of so much beatino- and treadinof, 
was a number of leather cartridge-boxes, which 
could not have been harder had they been deal ; 
so the means did not justify the end, and perhaps 
after all we make better use of our feet than the 
Nepaulese tanners do. 

In another part of the establishment was a 
gang of men engaged in twisting gun-barrels, 
turning out wonderful productions, considering 
the rude method employed. 



THE MAGAZINE. 161 



The stocks were more easily fabricated, and 
the whole musket justified the pride with which 
it was exhibited ; but Jung is no longer satisfied 
with the productions of the Nepaulese gunmakers. 
He visited a gun-manufactory at Birmingliam, 
and was most disagreeably surprised by finding 
how difi'erent was the English mode of manu- 
facturing the implements of war from that em- 
ployed in Nepaul. 

In England Jung had seen brass guns cast by 
the score during his short visit to the foundry. 
Here they were being cast at the rate of one 
every two or three months. The metal is not 
allowed to run into the mould in a continuous 
stream, but is ladled in, thereby rendering the 
gun liable to flaws. There were many other im- 
provements which it would have been obvious to 
a practised eye were needed in the gun-factory 
of Nepaul ; and it was plain enough that every- 
thing was rough and clumsy ; but Jung had paid 
especial attention to these subjects while in Eng- 
land, and intends speedily to introduce an im- 
proved system. How long it will be ere he will 
have a steam-foundry established in Katmandu 
time alone can show. 



162 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Kindness of the Mahila Sahib —His motive — Drawing-room ornaments — 
Visit to the palace of Jung Bahadoor — A trophy of the London season — 
Grand Durbar at the reading of the Queen of England's letter — Dress of 
the officers — Review of troops — Dancing boys. 

The MaMla Saliib, the younger brotlier of his 
Majesty, was a very pleasant-looking young man, 
with a much more amiable expression of counte- 
nance than his royal brother, and professed to 
be one of Jung's greatest friends and allies. As 
a compliment to the minister, he politely re- 
quested us to pay him a visit, an invitation of 
which we were glad to avail ourselves, since it 
proved his kindly feeling towards our host, 
whilst it gave us an opportunity of inspecting 
the menage of a Nepaulese Prince Royal. 

It is worth while to make a trip to Nepaul, 
not only for the delight of viewing the romantic 
beauty of its scenery, of wondering at the 
stupendous height of its mountains, of roaming 
amidst its ancient cities, ruined palaces, 8\jid 
glittering pagodas, but in order to take a lesson 
in human nature, for we are not at liberty to 
suppose that the princes and nobles of this 
country are a more depraved class than any 
other body of men, the fact being that a Nepaul- 



THE MAHILA SAHIB. 163 

ese follows his natural impulses, unfettered by 
the restraints of our standard of civilization and 
morality, and the results are apparent. Is not 
the more civilized inhabitant of western lands 
actuated by the same feelings, and would he not 
behave in the same manner as his swarthy 
brother in the East, had he been brought up in 
the same code of morality, and were he as fear- 
less of the consequences of his following the bent 
of his own inclination ? But if so, then the 
visitor to Nepaul simply sees the game of human 
life played openly and unconstrainedly, and in 
no way hampered by the rules which prevail in 
more civilized countries ; and the unsophisticated 
tyro has only to come here and learn in a month 
what would cost him a lifetime of anxious study 
in a country enjoying the blessings of civiliza- 
tion. 

The palace of the Mahila Sahib is situated in 
a court-yard, and is entered by a small doorway, 
by no means in keeping with the handsome stair- 
case, lined with muskets, up which we followed 
the prince, who had come to the entrance to 
meet us. We were ushered into a long narrow 
room, similar in shape to the reception-room in 
all other Nepaulese palaces, and adorned in like 
manner with a profusion of pictures, occidental 
as well as oriental, while in the midst, upon a 
round table, and displayed as drawing-room 
ornaments, was an incongruous collection of 
articles, amongst which I remarked three leaden 



164 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

spoons, an old cruet-stand, a Boliemian glass 
scent-bottle, an old hair-brusli and tooth-brush 
on some hot-water plates, a pair of brass candle- 
sticks, and other wares usually found in kitchens, 
pantries, and bedrooms. Some English prints 
and pictures of a particularly pothouse appear- 
ance attracted me into a little side room, where 
a handsome telescope stood pointed out of the 
open window, from which there was a lovely 
and extensive view, and while my friend and the 
prince were chatting in the next room I took 
advantage of the means thus afforded me of 
enjoying the prospect. 

On looking through the telescope the first 
object which met my eye was the roof of a hand- 
some house, on which figures were moving 
briskly to and fro. All the windows of this 
mansion were commanded by the glass, and I 
almost imagined I could see the female figures 
flitting about in the more gloomy and secluded 
part, which seemed to be the harem. The house 
thus under observation struck me as being 
known to me, and upon looking at the neigh- 
bouring objects I perceived that it was the palace 
of the Minister Sahib. 

The fact of the glass being thus pointed to his 
house was in itself a suspicious circumstance, but 
I little thought that the bland owner of the 
leaden spoons and pothouse pictures was then 
deliberately contemplating the vile plot he so 
soon afterwards nearly succeeded in executing. 



Jung's palace. 165 



"Within a week after this visit I heard that our 
polite entertainer was in confinement for an 
attempt to assassinate the minister, towards 
whom he had so recently professed the pro- 
foundest sentiments of regard. 

We descended into the well laid-out garden 
attached to the palace and devoured the delicious 
mandarin oranges, with which hundreds of trees 
were loaded, until our attention was diverted 
from them by a luscious fruit, in appearance 
something like a medlar : this fruit is rare in 
Nepaul, the tree being a native of Thibet. 

It cost us an effort to bid adieu to the polite 
prince and his attractive garden ; but at length 
we remounted our elephants and proceeded on 
our way to the Minister's house. Passing 
through the handsome gateway, guarded by a 
magnificent tiger, that prowled restlessly up and 
down his cage, a vigilant-looking sentinel, we 
entered a yard filled with the soldiers and 
retainers of the illustrious man whom we had 
come to visit. 

We were greeted cordially by the Minister 
Sahib, who was surrounded by a crowd of 
brothers, only three of whom I knew, viz. the 
two fat travellers and the future would-be 
assassin. 

Jung's house was a large white building, 
which looked as if a Chinaman had mixed 
together a Birmingham factory and an Italian 
villa, every now and then throwing in a strong 



166 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

dash of the style of his own country by way of 
improvement. It is three stories high, and one 
wing is devoted to the six " beautiful missises" 
who compose the female part of his establish- 
ment. 

The state-room was very similar in shape and 
appearance to that in the palace of the Mahila 
Sahib, but was, if possible, still more fantasti- 
cally ornamented. A picture of her Majesty's 
Coronation was supported on the one side by a 
lady's bonnet, on the other by a carpet-bag, 
while a lady's riding-habit, an officer's red 
jacket, and various other articles of attire were 
hung round the walls upon pegs ; here and there, 
perhaps partly hidden by the folds of a lady's 
dress, was to be seen the portrait of some sedate 
old Nepaulese noble. 

Jung called our attention to one of these ; it 
Avas the portrait of a strikingly handsome man, 
whose keen eye and lofty brow seemed almost to 
entitle him to the position he held between the 
Duke of Wellington and the Queen. " See," 
said Jung, enthusiastically, " here is the Queen 
of England, and she has not got a more loyal 
subject than I am." Then turning to the picture 
of the man with the keen eyes and high fore- 
head, he remarked, " That is my poor uncle 
Mahtibar Singh, whom I shot ; it is very like 
him." After which he launched into a discus- 
sion upon the comparative merits of the Duke 
of Wellington and Napoleon, and, skipping two 



JUNGS PALACE. 167 



cocked hats and a bonnet, went on to some 
Purdy's rifles, of which he spoke in glowing 
terms and with all the enthusiasm of a true 
sportsman. 

My friend Colonel Dhere Shum Shere now 
came up, whistling the Sturm Marsch, and chal- 
lenged me to a game of billiards : he was in his 
manner more thoroughly English than any 
native I ever knew, and both in appearance and 
disposition looked as if he was an Anglo-Saxon 
who had been dyed by mistake. When in 
Europe he used to dress like an Englishman, and 
in company with his brother, the Minister Sahib, 
in similar attire, patronized Vauxhall, Cremorne, 
and other places of fashionable resort usually fre- 
quented by such fast men as they showed them- 
selves to be. Like Jung, he used to say he 
could not bear the abominable screeching at the 
Opera, and consequently never made his appear- 
ance until the commencement of the ballet, 
which was much more in their line. 

Having profited by his visits to European 
houses, Jung intends to show his enlightenment 
by substituting pictures for the articles of vertu 
with which the walls of his room are at present 
adorned, and to exchange kitchen ware for al- 
bums, in order to prove that he has travelled to 
some purpose. While examining these table 
ornaments, I observed a civilized looking little 
square piece of satin, and on taking it up found 



168 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

I was inspecting the first invitation to Her Ma- 
jesty's Opera tliat had ever reached Nepaul. 

In one apartment 700/. worth of ladies' 
dresses, purchased in England, were spread upon 
the floor, destined, I presume, to adorn some 
sable beauties on whom the fashionable flounces 
of Madame Devy would be anything but becom- 
ing. 

Jung informed us that a grand ceremony was 
to take place on the following day. The Queen 
of England's letter, of which he was the bearer, 
was to be read in full Durbar under a salute of 
twenty-one guns — a greater honour than is 
shown even to a communication from his Im- 
perial Majesty of the celestial empire. 

We accordingly repaired at the appointed 
hour next morning to the palace of the King, 
in the great square of Katmandu, and were 
ushered into the narrow room appropriated to 
the Durbar. It was hung round with pictures 
that a tavern would be ashamed of, and altoge- 
ther looked so dirty that, had it been a tavern, 
it would have had but little custom. 

Seated on a throne were the two Kings gor- 
geously apparelled and bedizened with jewels, 
while the Minister Sahib wore nothing but the 
simple bukkoo, or fur-robe, of great value but 
unassuming appearance. 

There was to be a review of the troops after 
Durbar, and, as nearly all the nobility of Nepaul 



?li Ti If iMti 



GRAND DURBAR. 169 



hold rank in the army, the whole assemblage 
was in uniform, certainly one of the most 
dazzling that I ever saw collected together. 
Each man had twice as many feathers as he was 
entitled to wear, and, while their cocked hats 
were always completely hid, the bodies of the 
more diminutive officers almost shared the same 
fate. The English dragoon and the French hus- 
sar might here recognize portions of their uni- 
form, adorned with gold and silver lace to an 
extent which field-marshals alone have, with us, 
a right to indulge in, and often mixed up with 
some Oriental finery — a pair of glittering slip- 
pers that consorted but ill with the tightly 
strapped-down gold lace trowsers, or a hand- 
some shawl that clumsily supported the jewelled 
sabre. 

The ceremony of presentation having been 
gone through, a select party, consisting of the 
two Kings, the English Resident and one or two 
officers of the Embassy, and the Prime Minister, 
adjourned to an upper room. This seemed to 
me a curious proceeding, and one which the 
remaining portion of the legislators must have 
thought particularly unsatisfactory : however 
they looked as if they did not care, or could not 
help it ; and while the coterie above were 
solemnly perusing Her Majesty's epistle, and the 
guns were booming in honour of it, we below 
were chatting upon indifferent matters, until tM?t 

8 



170 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Royal party returned, when, in addition to the 
pawn usually given on such occasions, we were 
presented by their Majesties with some Nepaulese 
weapons, and amidst more firing of cannon left 
the palace in the Minister's phaeton to witness a 
grand review. 

The parade-ground was situated immediately 
under the city walls, and upon it 6000 men were 
drawn up : the uniforms differed in some in- 
stances ; the " rifles " were in a pea-green suit 
which hung about them loosely, while the regi- 
ments of the line wore red coats, with trowsers 
ample enough to please a Turk. Upon their 
turbans or caps were the distinguishing badges 
of their respective corps — a half-moon, a lion, 
the sun, and various other devices. The regi- 
ments were not numbered as with us, but adopt- 
ed some magniloquent high-sounding title sug- 
gestive of their valour in war, fearlessness of 
danger, and other martial qualities. 

There was no cavalry, the country not being 
adapted to that arm of the service, but the 
artillery seemed very fairly handled ; there was 
an immense deal of firing, both of small arms 
and great guns, which I believe was very good ; 
and there were a great number of evolutions 
performed, which, as I am not a soldier, did not 
seem to me more incomprehensible than such 
manoeuvring usually is, but I was informed by 
those who were capable of judging, that in this 



A REVIEW. l^l 

instance they really were altogether without 
meaning. Regiment after regiment marched 
past, the men swinging their arms regularly as 
they moved, and trying to persuade themselves 
they were British grenadiers. At all events the 
band was playing that tune. Suddenly the 
music changed ; they struck up a lively polka, 
and a number of little boys in a sort of penwiper 
costume, clasping one another like civilized 
ladies and gentlemen, began to caper about, after 
which they went through various antics that 
surpassed even the wildest notions of our highly 
civilized community : all this while the troops 
were manoeuvring as vehemently as ever, and 
the boys were dancing as fantastically ; and the 
whole thing was so eminently ridiculous and 
looked so very like a farce, that it was difficult 
to maintain that dignified and sedate appearance 
which was expected from the spectators of a 
scene so imposing. 

Jung alone looked for no expressions of sur- 
prise or admiration from us, but was evidently 
disappointed and chagrined at the inferiority of 
his own soldiers to those he had seen in Europe 
and amongst our Indian troops. He could in- 
deed point with pride to the stalwart bearing 
and soldierlike appearance of his men, but he 
had seen " the Guards" reviewed, he had been 
present at an inspection of 15,000 of the French 
army at Yersailles, and he seemed half ashamed 
of the display we were witnessing, notwithstand- 



172 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

ing our efforts to comfort him by telling him that 
we had little thought the art of war was so far 
advanced in the wild valleys and rocky mount- 
ains of Nepaul. 



II I ,,r--T^iaii— — jMiilBMMl 



VARIETIES OF NEPAUL RACES. 173 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Distinguishing features of the races of Nepaul — The Ghorkas — Conquest 
by them of Katmandu — Maintenance of the Nepaul armv — Beem Singh's 
monument— A feast at the minister's — We bid him adieu — Asceni of the 
Sheopoori — Magnificent view of the Himalayas from its summit. 

The grand review over, we availed ourselves of 
the opportunity to inspect the regiments com- 
posed of men recruited in some of the most dis- 
tant provinces of Nepaul. They bore in their 
countenances little resemblance either to the 
Ghorkas or Newars. We examined their faces, 
and tried to imagine what sort of a looking 
country was likely to produce this sort of a 
looking man. A regiment of dark-visaged stal- 
wart Ghorkas would march past, followed by a 
diminutive race from the north-western frontier, 
little, ill-made, and abominably ugly. The same 
cast of countenance was prevalent throughout 
the regiments that had been recruited there ; all 
the men had the same high cheek-bones, or wide 
mouths, or whatever their peculiarity might be. 
The insignificant Newars looked majestic by the 
side of these men, while in their turn their own 
strong Chinese characteristics were thrown com- 
pletely into the shade by some regiment from the 
north-east, almost pure Bootyan or Mongolian. 



Ill 



JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



There are not, hoAYever, many Newars em- 
ployed as soldiers, and the army is chiefly com- 
posed of Muggurs, Gurungs, and Krats. These 
tribes differ only in their religion, according as 
it combines in a greater or less degree the super- 
stitions of the Hindoo worship with those of 
Bhuddism. But none of these races differed 
from one pother more completely than did the 
Ghorka from them all ; he was the only man 
among them born to be a soldier, and he looked 
with contempt upon the mongrel races that sur- 
rounded him. 

The country from which he himself originally 
sprang is nevertheless a matter of speculation ; 
he certainly is not of trans-Himalayan origin, 
but no doubt the comfortable life he leads in 
Nepaul prevents his caring to inquire whence he 
came. The Rajah claims descent from the Raj- 
put princes. The capital town of the country 
from which they descended into the valley of 
Nepaul is Ghorka, situated about fifty miles 
westward of Katmandu. The Ghorkas had 
already possessed themselves of the whole terri- 
tory to the westward for some hundred of miles 
until their border touched the kingdom of Run- 
jeit Singh and the vale of Cashmere ; they then 
turned their conquering arms eastAvard in 1716 ; 
and, overrunning the valleys of the Newars, 
their progress was only arrested on the Sikkim 
frontier. 

The conquest of the valley of Katmandu was 



jdmUKttMtafl 



CONQUEST BY THE GHORKAS. lYS 

attended with circumstances of the greatest 
barbarity ; thousands of the inhabitants were 
starved to death by the Ghorka King, Prithi 
Naraim. There* were then in Nepaul a, few 
Christians, converted by a Jesuit mission. 
These were all compelled to fly the country, 
some taking refuge in Thibet, others crossing 
our frontier and settling at Bettiah, where a 
Christian community at present exists. Not 
long after he had conquered Nepaul, the Ghorka 
monarch organized an expedition into Tartary, 
which was so signally successful that the H'Lassa 
Government was obliged to treat on humiliating 
conditions. This advantage was followed, in 
defiance of the treaty, by another invasion, 
which was only arrested by the forces of the 
Emperor, who, having heard of the violent pro- 
ceedings in this distant part of his dominions, 
sent an army of 70,000 men to oppose the Ghor- 
ka invaders, who were completely overwhelmed, 
and obliged to retreat. The Chinese followed 
the retiring force across their own frontier, and 
not until they had reached the valley of Noya- 
kot, eighteen miles from Katmandu, did they 
consent to treat for peace, which was now hum- 
bly sued for by the Ghorka king. 

Not satisfied with serving as soldiers in their 
own country, the Ghorkas have offered their ser- 
vices to the Indian Government, and two of its 
finest regiments are composed of soldiers of this 
race. 



176 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

No European, as far as I could learn, has ever 
yet penetrated to their city, which however can 
contain no object of very great attraction, since 
it must want those Chinese peculiarities which 
render Katmandu and Patn so interesting, and 
must more nearly resemble the large cities of the 
plains. It has a large population, is well built 
and fortified, and is situated on a commanding 
eminence. 

The Nepaul army is maintained partly by the 
state, the men being in some instances paid out 
of the treasury, but more frequently by an as' 
signment of land to each man called a jaghire. 
They are thus remunerated at the expense of the 
Newars, who are the cultivators of the soil and 
were the original proprietors. Hence Nepaul is 
a warlike state, not merely from the natural dis- 
position of its Ghorka conquerors, but from the 
inducements held out to them to become soldiers. 

What would our grumbling agricultural popu- 
lation say to having soldiers billeted in each vil- 
lage, and living on the fat of the land? The 
Newars say, " Take away the army and give us 
free trade f the farmers in England say, " Keep 
up the army and take away free trade." 

The minister told us of out-stations at which 
different regiments were posted, and wanted us 
to believe that the standing army of Nepaul ex- 
ceeded 25,000 men. Every male is obliged to 
serve in the army for a year, and it requires 
great interest to be allowed to remain above that 



IM^H^^ 



BHEEM Singh's monument. 177 

period, so eagerly is the profession of arms 
sought after. 

Immediately facing the parade-ground stands 
the famous monument built by Bheem Singh, one 
of the most eminent prime ministers that Nepaul 
has ever seen, and who has left behind him 
proofs of his greatness in the many works, both 
useful and ornamental, which he erected. 

Two winged lions guard the chief bridge over 
the Bhagmutty, by which Katmandu is ap- 
proached, and pronounce Bheem Singh its builder. 
Numerous temples and handsome palaces are 
adorned in like manner, but the monument above 
mentioned is the most remarkable memorial of 
his greatness, and is the chief ornament of the 
city. The people are deservedly proud of this 
its distinguishing mark, for, except as minarets, 
single columns are unknown in India, and in this 
respect their mountain capital can boldly chal- 
lenge a comparison with the proudest city of the 
plains. The monument resembles in shape a 
portable telescope fully drawn out, and rears its 
head to a height of nearly 200 feet above the 
surrounding houses. The Minister Sahib con- 
tended that it was higher than the monument of 
London. This, as in duty bound, I patriotically 
denied ; but which of us was led into error by 
partiality for our respective countries I am not 
prepared to say. The Mahila Sahib accompanied 
us to the summit, whence we had a most magnifi- 
cent view. Looking down into the city beneath 

8* 



178 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



US, we could discern the turning of every nar- 
row street, the palaces situated in the midst of 
gardens, the hovels in the midst of dunghills, 
though I am bound to say that the former pre- 
ponderated in number, and the houses of the city 
were for the most part substantial and well 
built. Some of these streets were now crowded 
with a motley multitude, returning home from 
the review, the bright uniforms mixing amongst 
them as the soldiers joined their families after 
being dismissed parade, or here and there 
marched in companies back to the barracks. 
Officers were scampering down streets on ponies, 
dragging along the horse-boys, who were holding 
on by their tails. All this the Mahila Sahib 
pointed out with much affability. Had he been 
the man to seize a good opportunity, that was 
the moment to give Jung a push over the low 
parapet ; but the Mahila Sahib is a man without 
decision of character ; so we all descended, and 
he allowed the minister to reach the bottom his 
own way. We then proceeded with Jung to his 
residence, there to partake of a farewell feast. 
The carriage in which we were driving was one 
I had seen brought over the mountain passes on 
men's shoulders in detached portions ; and this 
emanation from Long- Acre was to be trundled 
for the rest of its existence along the three or 
four miles of carriage-road which the valley of 
Nepaul can boast. Our way lay through narrow 
lanes, walled in by the enclosures of different 



FAREWELL VISIT TO JUNG. 179 

rich men's suburban residences, and the prolific 
orange-trees drooped their luscious fruit over the 
garden walls for the benefit of any one who 
chose to pick them, as they hung temptingly 
over-head, Jung showed us his horticultural ar- 
rangements with no little pride. His house is 
situated in the midst of gardens, adorned with 
fountains and reservoirs, and he informed us that 
upon one aqueduct alone he had expended 
30,000/. The garden was in its infancy, and, 
notwithstanding the great formality with which 
it was laid out, bid fair to do credit to Jung's 
taste and industry. In one direction the gardens 
extend to the river side, where he has built some 
handsome baths, not far distant from which, and at 
one corner of his grounds, stands a four-turreted 
building, inhabited by the Ranee of Lahore, who 
has taken refuge from the English under the hos- 
pitable roof of Jung Bahadoor. Here this ex- 
traordinary woman leads a secluded life, rarely 
venturing outside her doors, and never giving 
any one a chance of judging for themselves of 
her rumoured beauty. She is, no doubt, medi- 
tating some bold design worthy of the heroism 
she has proved herself to possess, for she is said 
still to retain hope where hope is surely forlorn. 
"We had not on this occasion walked a whole 
day over Nepaul roads, as was the case when last 
we dined with Jung ; consequently, when his 
feast was set before us, we did not do justice to 
it. Perhaps our appetites were spoiled by the 



180 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

parting whicli was about to take place, for we 
were not to see Ms Excellency any more, and to 
part from the prime minister of Nepaul is not 
like parting from any other man. Even were he 
only a casual acquaintance, it would cause a dif- 
ferent feeling from that of bidding adieu to one 
who was to lead a peaceable life, and in all pro- 
bability die in his bed ; but when the chances are 
strongly against either of these suppositions, and 
when the friend whom you are leaving is a man of 
so interesting a character, the possessor of such 
great talents and of so many amiable qualities, 
one with whom you have journeyed and hunted 
and undergone all sorts of adventures and wit- 
nessed all sorts of scenes, and who has on all 
occasions proved himself a kind friend, an hospi- 
table host, and an agreeable companion, it is any- 
thing but pleasant to look upon him for the last 
time. Doubtless, in the early years of his yet 
uncivilised life, Jung Bahadoor was guilty of 
great barbarities and crimes, but it was war to 
the knife, and self-defence no less than ambition 
prompted the acts of that bloody drama. Now 
he has proved himself a changed man, and his 
late generous and humane conduct might well 
read a useful lesson to many in the civilised soci- 
eties in which he learnt to be what he now is, 
since he does not fear to change a line of conduct 
when its error is palpable. 

The time at length arrived when we were com- 
pelled to bid adieu to this extraordinary man, 



111 II Ml j^MiijniniMiiM 



ASCENT OF THE SHEOPOORI. 181 

whose future career is a matter of such vast im- 
portance to the country he rules with almost ab- 
solute power. Expressing the hope that the day 
might yet come when I should meet him in my 
own country, I took leave of my kind-hearted but 
perilously-situated entertainer as I would of a 
friend in a galloping consumption. 

During my whole stay in Nepaul the weather 
had been unusually foggy, and the snowy range 
only displayed its wonders now and then. On 
the day following the review the sky was un- 
clouded ; I therefore resolved to ascend the She- 
opoori, a mountain which rises to a height of 
2000 feet above the valley, and from which it 
was said a most magniiicent view of the snowy 
range is obtained. The ascent commenced at a 
distance of five miles from the Residency, and 
was very fatiguing from the total absence of any 
path, the steepness of some part of it, and the 
thick jungle through which we had to push our 
way. It occupied two hours' stiff climbing for 
one in pretty good mountain condition, but no 
fatigue seems too great if it is rewarded by a 
good view ; and there is no prospect so cheering 
to the mountain traveller as that of an unclouded 
&ky, with the summit of the hill he is ascending 
in clear relief against it. 

At last we reached the shoulder, from whence 
1 had a peep that made me long for more, but, 
determined not to spoil the effect, I pushed reso- 
lutely on after my guide through a low scrubby 



182 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

jungle, along a barely perceptible woodcutter's 
path, until the crisp snow crunching beneath our 
feet betokened our great elevation. I was glad 
to halt for a moment and cool my mouth with the 
snow, a luxury I had not experienced for years. 

A few yards more and we gained the summit ; 
a sort of shed, the residence of some departed 
holy man, marked the highest point, upwards of 
6000 feet above the sea. 

A keen sharp wind whistled about the ruin as 
I jumped on to a half broken down wall in order 
to look over the low bushes which surrounded 
me. From this position a panorama, in every 
respect as magnificent as it was wonderful, 
stretched itself, if I may so speak, as well above 
as below me. Northward, and not thirty miles 
distant, the Himalayas reared their heaven- 
piercing summits, peak succeeding peak, and 
crao; succeedino- cra^-, far as the eve could reach, 
from east to west a glittering- chain, while here 
and there the light clouds which hung upon its 
rocks and precipices became thinned, till they 
vanished altogether, or, rising in denser masses 
from some dark valley, obscured the lower por- 
tions of the range, only to give relief to the sum- 
mits and elevate them in appearance — an aid 
they little needed, for the height of the lowest 
level of the chain is upwards of 15,000 feet. But 
it was not the actual height of the various peaks, 
nor the masses of glistening snow which clothed 
them, brightly reflecting the rays of an almost 



VIEW FROM THE SHEOPOORI. 18.3 

Tertical sun, and tinted by the most brilliant 
hues, that was the chief cause of wonder and ad- 
miration. It was the sharpness of the horizon- 
line against the serene clear sky which displayed 
precipices and crags of inconceivable grandeur, 
the overhanging peak looking dow^n some thou- 
sands of feet upon the lower part of the range. 
Had it been possible to calculate upon such a 
stupendous scale, I felt I was gazing at sheer 
precipices 6000 or 8000 feet in depth, for the 
descent from 25,000 to 15,000 feet was not gra- 
dual, but the whole line was cragged and notched 
upon a scale of unsurpassable magnificence and 
grandeur. 

The Dawalof^iri, the hiahest mountain in the 
world, and 28,700 feet above the level of the sea, 
was as worthy a termination of the chain at one 
end as its rival, the Kinchin Jung, was at the 
other ; v/hile not ten leagues distant, and com- 
pletely towering above me, the Gosain Than 
reared its gigantic head, the third highest in 
this mighty barrier. 

Turning from this marvellous scene, I looked 
down upon the placid valley of Nepaul. Its four 
rivers appeared like silver threads, winding their 
way amidst rich cultivation to swell the Avaters 
of the parent Bhagmutty. Blooming and ver- 
dant, the populous plain lay embosomed in lofty 
mountains, shut out as it were from the cares of 
the world. It seemed a Paradise on earth, with 



184 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

an approach to heaven of its own along the sum- 
mit of the Gosain Than. 

I viewed with interest a country on which 
European foot had never trod, and my eye ranged 
over bleak hills enclosing fertile valleys, into 
which torrents first flung themselves wildly, then, 
flowing sedately through to the other end, dashed 
away again behind rocks and hills and jumbled 
masses of broken country, which must have afi'ord- 
ed magnificent scenery as it gradually swelled 
into the towering mountains of the Emodus. 

A distant hill was pointed out to me as that on 
which the city of Ghorka was perched, a fitting 
residence for the wild race to whom it gives 
birth. My guide also showed me the road to the 
mysterious capital of H'Lassa, winding through 
rocky glens, passable only for the droves of sheep 
that traverse those mountain defiles, a journey of 
twenty days in the Nepaul dominions ; but how 
far from the frontier lay the city of the Grand 
Lama the guide did not know. 

The valley of Noyakot is about eighteen miles 
distant from Katmandu, and was visited some 
years ago by Prince Waldemar of Prussia and 
his party. It does not offer much attraction to the 
traveller, and as I looked into it from the top of 
Sheopoori I thought it hardly worth the trip. 
Not so extensive as that in which Katmandu is 
situated, it lies lower and is very fertile. Its 
climate is much warmer and not so healthy. 



VIEW FROM THE SHEOPOORI. 185 

Looking up the valley of Nepaul, I could dis- 
tinguish at its farther end, twelve miles distant 
from the present capital, the ancient Newar city 
of Bhatgong, the second in importance in the days 
when Patn was the first. It has now fallen into 
much the same dismantled state as its old rival, 
while it looked much more picturesque, standing 
a* it does on a commanding eminence, terraced 
with rich rice-fields. The Durbar is a fine old 
building, characteristic of the architecture of the 
country, and the town contains many ancient 
Newar buildings of much interest. 

But the valley of Nepaul, and the wild moun- 
tains of Ghorka, and the dashing rivers and the 
rocky glens, all sank into insignificance when I 
returned once more irresistibly fascinated by the 
wonders which the snowy chain seemed to ex- 
hibit anew every moment, as clouds cleared away 
from off the frightful precipices, or laid bare huge 
craggy peaks. For an hour did I gaze upon this 
incomparable scene, as upon one which the ex- 
perience of a lifetime can seldom boast, for, 
though I was prepared by an alpine experience 
in Europe, and had stretched my imagination to 
the utmost in my anticipations of what would be 
the appearance of the highest mountains in the 
world, I could never have conceived — far less is 
it possible for me to describe — the scene I beheld 
from the summit of Sheopoori. 



186 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

A visit to the Minister's brothers — Dexterity of Colonel Dhere Shum Shere 
— Scenes for lovers of the Fancy — Adieu to Nepaul — The view from i)ie 
summit of the Chandemagiri pass — The scenery of Nepaul — The pass of 
Bhimphede— Night quarters. 

It was out of the question my leaving Kat- 
mandu without paying a farewell visit to tlie 
Minister's two younger brothers, Juggut and 
Colonel Dhere Shum Shere, so I hurried over 
in the afternoon to their house, which was situ- 
ated in the centre of the town. On my road I 
met them driving in a buggy, the only one of 
which the town could boast, and, as it is not con- 
sidered infra dig. in Katmandu to go three in a 
gig, I jumped in between them, and we w^re soon 
tearing along the narrow street at a most l^eck- 
less pace, and finally pulled up in a small square, 
where a great crowd seemed to be waiting for 
something to take place. A Katmandu crowd 
doubtless possesses the same instinct in this re- 
spect that crowds in civilized parts of the world 
do, and, as it proved, they were quite right in 
their expectations, for the exhibition which al- 
most immediately followed was well worth see- 
ing. The Colonel said he had something to show 
us, but we could perceive nothing out of the com- 



VISIT TO jukg's brothers. 187 

mon except a huge bull buffalo, whose head was 
firmly lashed to a stake fixed in the court-yard 
so that it touched it from his forehead to his 
nose ; he was then blindfolded, his legs were 
planted some distance apart, and he stood snort- 
ing at his confined position. Meantime we had 
jumped out of the buggy, the young Colonel, 
stripping himself of all superfluous clothing, had 
grasped a " korah," or native sword, and, first 
laying the keen edge of it gently upon the ex- 
posed neck of the buffalo, he drew himself to his 
full height, and raised his korah high above his 
head. Every muscle extended, every fibre strain- 
ed, he seemed to concentrate his strength in a 
wonderful manner into that blow which was at 
one stroke to sever the extended neck of the 
buffalo. Down came the sword with sweeping 
force. I looked eagerly for the result ; when 
suddenly his hand was arrested midway, and 
with a look of vexation the Colonel let off the 
steam he had got up for the occasion, as he point- 
ed to one of the buffalo's legs ; it had been mov- 
ed an inch inwards, and that was sufficient to 
cause the failure of the operation. Three or 
four times did this occur, and it seemed essentially 
necessary to the success of the feat that the 
legs of the animal should be perfectly stationary 
in a particular position. How little was the 
buffalo aware that each movement he made pro- 
longed his life some seconds ! I could not help 
thinking that there was a strong resemblance be- 



188 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

tween Ms position and that of Jung, for decidedly 
the only chance the Minister has of his life is to 
keep continually moving. At last down came the 
korah -with crushing force, and passed right 
through the animal's neck : the headless trunk 
tottered for a second, and then fell heavily over. 

I was horrified at seeing a second buffalo 
brought up for slaughter, and my horror was 
greatly increased when I understood that 1 was 
expected to exercise my skill upon it. This offer 
I declined as politely as I could, accepting from 
the young Colonel, as a remembrance of his dex- 
terity and strength, the korah with which he had 
performed this extraordinary feat. 

We next adjourned to another court-yard, 
which was surrounded with bulldogs and terriers 
of every description, — a collection worthy the 
most ardent votary of the Fancy. Two magni- 
ficent rams, which were tied up in the corners of 
the yard, soon after showed us that a sport existed 
in Nepaul unknown as yet to ' Bell's Life.' No 
sooner were these animals untied than they 
dashed at one another with the utmost fury ; the 
violence of the shock caused the combatants to 
recoil, and it was a matter of astonishment to us 
that their brains were not dashed out. 

The whole fight consisted in their being sepa- 
rated and then let go at one another again. This 
continued without any apparent advantage on 
either side until we thought that they had in- 
flicted punishment enough on one another for our 



"fancy" scenes. 189 



amusement, and then they were both tied up, and 
left to meditate upon their splitting headaches 
and to scowl at one another across the yard. 

We walked through the Colonel's house, and 
found in his drawing-room the usual collection 
of theatrical prints and portraits of opera-dancers, 
mixed up with those of old statesmen, which he 
seemed to think perfectly natural, and no doubt 
he fancies he has good reason for so thinking. 
There were also a piano and some European 
luxuries strangely mingled Avitli barbarous inven- 
tions. 

In leaving these two excellent young men, I 
bade adieu to the last of my fellow-travellers 
from Ceylon. My especial favourite of them all 
was Colonel Dhere Shum Shere, whose thorough- 
ly frank and amiable disposition endeared him 
to every one, while his courage and daring com- 
manded universal respect. I know of no one 1 
would rather have by my side in a row than the 
young Colonel, and his brother Jung evidently 
thought so too when he chose him to assist in the 
capture of the conspirators in the attempt upon 
hia life. Cheerful and lively, his n^erry laugh 
might be heard in the midst of a knot of his ad- 
mirers, to whom he was relating some amusing 
anecdote, while his shrewd remarks were the 
result of keen observation, and proved his intel- 
lect to be by no means of a low order. 

His elder brother Juggut was fat, lazy, and 
good tempered, but wanting the energy of his 



190 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

brothers. These two are the youngest members 
of the family, and are devotedly attached to 
Jung. 

Mounting our ponies at an early hour on the 
following morning, we bade adieu to the Resi- 
dency and its hospitable inmates, and cantered 
along narrow lanes bordered by hedges of prickly 
pear, and roughly paved with large stones : some- 
times we passed between steep banks over gently 
swelling hills terraced to their summits, and re- 
minding me strongly of a vine-growing country. 

Soon the road became more broken, and, on 
gaining the top of a steep hill, we took our last 
view of the valley of Katmandu before commenc- 
ing the ascent of the precipitous Chandernagiri. 
From this point we gazed with indescribable de- 
light on the valley so peculiar if not unrivalled 
in its beauty : its compact red-brick villages or 
straggling houses, which, with their quaintly- 
carved gables, clustered up the hill sides ; its 
sacred groves containing numerous venerated 
shrines in picturesque proximity to the clear 
streams that gushed down from the neighbouring 
hills ; its ancient cities, whose dismantled walls 
enclosed the ruined tenements of a departed 
race ; the richly-cultivated knolls, the Cliinese 
pagodas, the Bhuddist dagobas on the banks of 
the sacred Bhagmutty, the narrow but substan- 
tially-built brick bridges by which it was spanned, 
continually traversed by an industrious popula- 
tion ; — all these objects formed a picture, " with 



ASCENT OF CHANDERNAGIRI, 191 

all the freshness and glory of a dream/' to which 
the towering monument of Bheera Singh in the 
far distance, while it indicated the position of 
the capital of this favoured vale, was a fitting 
centre. 

At Thankote, eight miles from Katmandu, we 
dismounted, and commenced in earnest the ascent 
of the Chandernagiri. It is tlie steepest pass on 
either of the roads by which the valley of Nepaul 
is entered, and for that reason seems generally 
chosen by the natives, who would not for the world 
miss the pleasure of toiling up an almost inacces- 
sible mountain. They certainly cannot be ac- 
cused of neglecting the opportunities their country 
affords them for strengtjiening the muscles of 
their legs. The traveller had need to have his 
shins cased if he intends to climb a hill with a 
Newar mountaineer, for the path is so steep that 
the hillmen, as they clamber up, frequently dis- 
lodge stones, which come tumbling down upon 
those behind. However, I should have despised 
the blows from the stones, and should not have 
cared for the fatio'ue of the ruo-o-ed ascent, if, on 
reaching the summit of the Chandernagiri, I had 
been rewarded with the view which it commands 
in clear weather. 

Colonel Kirkpatrick thus describes this glo- 
rious scene as it burst upon him in all its magni- 
ficence : — " From hence the eye not only expa- 
tiates on the waving valley of Nepaul, beautifully 
and thickly dotted with villages and abundantly 



192 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

chequered with, rich fields fertilized by nume- 
rous meandering streams, but also embraces on 
every side a wide expanse of charming and di- 
versified country. It is the landscape in front, 
however, that most powerfully attracts the atten- 
tion — the scenery in this direction rising to an 
amphitheatre, and exhibiting to the delighted 
view the cities and numberless temples of the 
valley below, the stupendous mountain of Sheo- 
poori, the still supertowering Jib Jibia, clothed 
to its snow-capped peak with pendulous forests, 
and finally the gigantic Himaleh, forming the 
majestic background to this wonderful and sub- 
lime picture." 

This majestic background was now concealed 
behind a dense bank of clouds, and the prospect 
was bounded by Sheopoori. '^ 

The snowy range is the most striking feature 
in Nepaul scenery, and the most important ele- 
ment in its composition, since the effect pro- 
duced by the grandeur of its stupendous summits 
is probably unequalled. 

It would be hardly fair to compare the valley 
in which Katmandu is situated with any other 
part of the world, since it is so peculiar in its 
characteristics and totally unlike the rest of the 
Nepaul dominions ; but, standing on the summit 
of Chandernagiri, and looking over the moun- 
tainous district which stretched away to the 
south, and across which our road lay, we could 
not but be struck by the bleak appearance of the 



NEPAUL SCENERY. 193 



mountains, neither desolate nor rugged enough 
to possess the majesty of a bold and sublime soli- 
tude, nor sufficiently wooded and populous to 
exhibit that softer and more animating character 
which in the scenery of Switzerland is no less 
charming than its grandeur is imposing. Of 
course this does not apply to all Nepaul ; the 
lower ranges are more woody, the valleys more 
sunny and fertile, but there is a lamentable want 
of water throughout. I do not remember ever 
to have seen so much as a horse-pond in Nepaul, 
or a single waterfall of any magnitude : the tra- 
veller will therefore probably be disappointed in 
the scenery, until he reaches the Chandernagiri, 
when indeed he must be difficult to please if he 
is not fascinated by the view of the valley at his 
feet, unsurpassed in the singular character of its 
beauty, and of the mountains beyond it, unparal- 
leled by any in the whole world. 

We followed the course of the stream down 
the mountain and along the valley of Chitlong, 
until we reached the foot of the Bhimphede pass, 
when, striking into the path by which we had 
entered Nepaul, we toiled up it, reaching the 
summit just before sunset, when we were delight- 
ed by the farewell view of the snowy mountains 
which we obtained at this point. The upper 
edge of the curtain of clouds had now become 
slightly lower, allowing a single peak to show 
itself. Gilded by the rays of the declining sun, 
it shone out in strong relief, like some unusual 

9 



194 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

phenomenon ; and as we gazed upon it high in 
the heavens we found it difficult to believe that 
it was part of the earth we stood on, and felt 
almost inclined to agree with the faithful, who 
throughout India regard this heaven-piercing 
summit as the centre of the universe, around 
which the sun, moon, and stars perform their 
courses, the sacred and mvsterious Mount Me- 
nou. 

Gradually the bright crimson rays of the set- 
ting sun began to fade, and reminded us that ^ve 
had to make a long descent ere we could reach 
the tent pitched at the bottom for our reception ; 
and our former experience had taught us that 
the Bhimphede pass was not the most pleasant 
road in the world on which to be benighted. So 
we hurried on at the risk of our necks, the loose 
stones rolling down before us, and rendering our 
footing anything but safe in the growing dark- 
ness. 

When we reached the foot of the mountain 
our servants met us with torches and guided us 
to the tent ; and as we spread our dinner upon a 
rickety old bedstead, which, wonderful to relate, 
this out-of-the-way village supplied, we came to 
the conclusion that there were many worse lodg- 
ings in the world than the snug little single- 
poled tent at the old Newar village of Bhim- 
phede. 



DILEMMA AT BISOLEAn. 195 



CHAPTER XY. 

A dilemma at Bisoleah — Ignominious exit from tiie Nepaul dominions — 
The resources and capabilities of Nepaul — Articles of import from Thibet 
and Chinese Tartary — A vision of the future. 

At Bhimpliede we remounted our elephant, fol- 
lowing, as before, the valley of the Rapti to 
Hetowra, thence through the great saul forest to 
Bisoleah, where we expected to find our palan- 
quins. In this we were not disappointed ; but 
unfortunately our bearers, tired of waiting for us 
at so uninteresting a spot, had thought them- 
selves justified in absconding ; which proceeding, 
while it was a considerable saving to us in a 
pecuniary point of view, was particularly annoy- 
ing under existing circumstances, the day being 
far advanced and Segowly still thirty miles 
distant. However, by dint of a great deal of 
threatening, and coaxing, and bribing, and a 
very frequent use of the magic name of the 
Minister Sahib, who, we assured them, would 
take into his especial favour every coolie that 
volunteered for our service, and would visit with 
his heavy displeasure all those who refused, we 
induced a sufficient number of men to agree to 
bear our empty palanquins. Unloading two 
ponieSj which were carrying cotton, we put our 



196 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

luggage on one, riding the other by turns, and 
so, one of us sitting on a rough sack without 
bridle or stirrups, the other walking by his side, 
we marched out of the village and across the 
open plain of the Terai. We were soon after 
left in darkness, and, becoming separated from 
our palanquins, as was to be expected, we lost 
our way, and wandered for some time disconso- 
lately over the grassy plain, until at length, 
stumbling upon a village, we procured a guide 
and overtook the bearers a little beyond the 
Nepaul frontier. Ere we reached it, however, 
we were obliged to traverse numerous streams, 
which we crossed riding double on our pony. 
Altogether we made our exit from Nepaul in 
very different style from that in which we had 
entered it, and were not a little glad to arrive 
at Segowly shortly before dawn. 

The journey from Katmandu to Segowly can 
scarcely be accomplished in less than three daj^s 
and three nights, not on account of the distance, 
but of the frightfully bad roads, which quite 
preclude the possibility of travelling faster than 
at the rate of two miles an hour. 

There is scarcely a country in the world in 
which the state of the roads is so much to be 
lamented, since, apart from the benefit which 
would accrue to Nepaul itself, we too should be 
gainers, by having not only the valuable produc- 
tions of Nepaul brought to our markets, but also 
those of the more distant Thibet, which are 



TRADE AND PKODUCTION. 197 

always precious from their intrinsic value, and 
the cost of which is at present greatly increased 
by reason of the expensive journey across the 
Nepaulese hills in addition to the transit of the 
Himalayas. 

The Terai is at present the only part of the 
Nepaul dominions which is profitable from the 
revenue yielded by its productions. Valuable 
timber and turpentine, ivory and hides, are 
shipped down the Boori Gundak, on which river 
Segowly is situated, to Calcutta ; still the cost 
of a government license for cutting timber is so 
heavy as in a great measure to deter speculators 
from engaging in an undertaking in which so 
considerable an outlay is demanded, exclusive of 
the expenses attendant on the felling and trans- 
port of the timber. Besides the saul the Terai 
contains ebony, mimosa, and other useful trees. 

The trade in hides is not, as I have already 
remarked, carried out to the extent it is capable 
of. But in spite of all these drawbacks, the 
Terai alone, of all the Nepaul dominions, can be 
looked upon by the British as offering a profit- 
able field for trade and commercial speculations. 

Nevertheless, the interior of Nepaul contains 
productions far more valuable than those of the 
Terai. Its mineral resources are such as would 
in all probability, if properly developed, render 
their mountainous, and in some parts barren 
country, one of the richest in the world. Iron, 
lead, copper, and zinc faines abound, and are in 



198 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

fact worked, but, from all I could learn, so very 
badly, that, eyen did their roads allow of the 
export of the metals, it is to" be questioned 
whether, without the application of a better 
system, enough metal could be obtained to do 
more than supply the home demand. 

However that may be, there is no doubt of the 
existence of these mines, and, if ever there were 
tolerable roads, the necessary skill for working 
them would doubtless follow. So backward are 
the Nepaulese in their treatment of minerals, 
that they cannot smelt lead : the fact of their 
heating cannon-balls into shape proves their 
incapacity to cast iron, unless it results from a 
peculiarity of the ore, so frequent in India, 
which, instead of yielding cast-iron at once when 
reduced in the usual way, gives wootz — a condi- 
tion of iron closely allied to steel, ductile but 
not fusible. Of this I had no opportunity of 
judging. 

Nepaul also possesses mines of sulphur, and, it 
is said, of antimony ; whether this latter is found 
in the country does not seem certain ; it is, how- 
ever, an article of import from Thibet. Amongst 
other minerals are corundum, figure-stone, and 
talc ; and amongst the present exports from the 
interior of Nepaul may be noticed turmeric, wax, 
honey, resin, pepper, cardamums : all these, how- 
ever, are exported in but small quantities, owing 
partly to the difiiculty of transport, and partly 
to the want of enterprise and capital in a nation 



HORSES. 199 

thorouglily ignorant of all mercantile transac- 
tions. 

It is much, to be regretted that no European is 
now allowed to settle in Nepaul ; for its many 
latent resources must remain undiscovered, or at 
least undeveloped, until the present blind policy 
of its government is changed, when British 
enterprise and British capital introduces a new 
era in its commercial existence, which will 
doubtless prove no less profitable to the country 
itself than to the capitalist. 

Of the immense expanse of country lying in a 
north-westerly direction towards Cashmere we 
know nothing, save by report, and that is not 
always to be trusted. The Minister told me 
that, in a province three days' journey from the 
capital in that direction, sufficient horses were 
bred to supply the wants of the whole country. 
That seemed perfectly possible, considering how 
limited is the demand in this respect ; but, on 
oar homeward journey, we passed a drove of 
upwards of two hundred long-backed spindle- 
legged colts, going up to Katmandu, and that did 
not seem exactly corroborative of the Minister's 
assertion. 

But, whatever may be its capabilities as re- 
gards horses, it doubtless possesses many re- 
sources ; but it is not on the productions of 
Nepaul alone that the European speculator would 
calculate, but on the rare and precious mer- 
chandise of Thibet and the northern provinces 



200 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



of China — sucli as the miledo, or exquisitely 
soft material fabricated from the wool of the 
celebrated shawl-goat, itself a rare and valuable 
animal ; and the chowries or tails of a peculiar 
species of bullock inhabiting the snowy regions, 
at present an article of export from the hill 
states in the north-west provinces of India, and 
extensively used throughout the continent as fly- 
flappers. 

Musk, procured from the musk-deer, is a most 
valuable article of commerce, and the present 
trade is exceedingly lucrative ; of very inconsi- 
derable bulk, and of great intrinsic worth, it is 
one of the few things that can be imported into 
India with a profit. It there fetches enormous 
prices ; a small musk necklace, which I saw in 
the possession of the Minister, and which cer- 
tainly was not a foot long, was valued at 25/. 
It is very seldom, however, that musk can be 
procured unadulterated. It is not, however, 
so much as an ornament, as a medicine, that we 
should use this now costly substance. 

But the most valuable productions at present 
imported from Thibet are mineral. Immense 
quantities of salt are brought over the Himalayas 
on sheep's backs ; gold-dust, borax, sulphur, 
antimony, arsenic, orpiment, and medicinal 
drugs are also imported into Nepaul. 

The animals which abound in these cold re- 
gions, and which might be worth importing, are 
musk-deer, sheep, shawl-goats, chowrie bullocks, 



IMPORTS FROM THIBET. 201 

falcons, pheasants — in fact, it would be hopeless 
to attempt to enumerate all those productions, 
animal, yegetable, and mineral, which are now 
scarcely known except by name, but which will 
doubtless some day be objects of traffic and com- 
mercial enterprise. For instance, there are 
various medicinal drugs and dyes (among which 
may be mentioned madder and spikenard) which 
are said to exist, but are now almost totally un- 
known. 

Among the present articles of import are em- 
broideries, tajQfetas, chintz, silk, cotton, cloth, 
carpets, cutlery, sandalwood, tobacco, conch- 
shells, soap, &c. 

Surely it is no very extravagant flight of ima- 
gination to suppose that the day may yet come 
when the unattainable and almost unknown pro- 
ductions of the trans-Himalayan regions will be 
transported across that mighty range, in well- 
appointed carriages, over macadamised moun- 
tain-passes ; and the noble work of the scientific 
engineer will thus supersede the flocks of heavily- 
laden sheep, driven by uncivilized and ill-clothed 
Bootyas, who, "impelled by the force of circum- 
stances over which they have no control," will 
don their smockfrocks and turn draymen ; when 
the traveller, going to the coach-office. Durbar- 
square, Katmandu, may book himself in the 
royal mail through to H'Lassa, where, after a 
short residence at the Grand Lama Hotel, 
strongly recommended in Murray's ' Handbook 

9* 



202 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

for the Himalayas/ he may wrap himself in his 
fur bukkoo, and, taking his seat in a first-class 
carriage on the Asiatic Central Railway, whisk 
away to Pekin, having previously telegraphed 
home, via St. Petersburg, that he proposes re- 
turning through North America, and will, there- 
fore, probably be detained a few hours longer 
than he had anticipated. 

Such a state of things we may not live to see, 
but it is by no means unlikely that ere long a 
railway may run from Calcutta to the northern 
frontier of British India ; so that, when Nepaul 
is thrown open to European enterprise, its costly 
jDroductions will be easily and cheaply transported 
to the nearest port, while the now almost uncivi- 
lized Nepaulese would obtain European luxuries 
unknown to any of them except Jung Bahadoor 
and his travelled suite. 

Nor will the idea of a direct communication 
between Nepaul and Pekin seem either so im- 
probable or impossible when we consider that an 
embassy now makes the journey once every five 
years. It occupies no less than two years, in- 
cluding a residence of less than two months in 
the capital of the Celestial Empire. I met 
two or three Nepaulese who had accomplished 
the enterprise, and who spoke in glowing 
terms of Pekin, and of the magnificence dis- 
played throughout those portions of the Chinese 
Empire which they traversed, as well as of the 
great city of Lassa, and the terrible mountains 



MISSION FROM NEPAUL TO CHINA. 203 

to be crossed and the incredible dangers to 
be overcome. 

The mission is composed of twenty-seven per- 
sons, and would not be admitted across the fron- 
tier of China if it consisted of one more or less 
than the stated number. It must arrive on the 
frontier on a certain day, and is subject to 
various rules and regulations : at the same time 
every provision is made by the Chinese for the 
comfort of the members of the embassy while on 
their journey. The journey from Pekin to Lassa 
has lately been made by Messrs. Hue and Gabet, 
two French Missionaries, and has been graphi- 
cally described by them. 

The Nepaulese look with the greatest awe 
upon their wealthy and highly-civilized neigh- 
bours ; but the Minister, having now lived 
amongst people more warlike and accomplished 
than even the Chinese, regards them with great 
contempt ; and I should not be surprised if, 
before long, accounts reach us of the invasion 
by the Nepaulese of the northern provinces of 
China, when the Minister would bring to bear 
his recently acquired knowledge, and would 
doubtless prove more than a match for the 
rudely-equipped forces of his Celestial Majesty. 

The Tartar race, however, who would oppose 
the progress of a Nepaul army, are a very dif- 
ferent set from their tea-drinking countrymen on 
the southern coast. 

But to return from Chinese Tartars to the 



204 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

country we had just quitted. The kingdom of 
Nepaul extends for upwards of three hundred 
miles along the southern slopes of the Himalayas, 
and is said to contain a population of about five 
millions. Of these four hundred thousand in- 
habit the valley of Nepaul proper. The lands 
are divided into four classes of tenures — first, 
jirown lands ; secondly, Kroos or Soona Birtha, 
belonging to Brahmins or Newars ; thirdly, 
Kohriya, or Bari, barren lands granted for cul- 
tivation ; and, lastly (and this is the most exten- 
sive class of the four), Kaith, in which the pro- 
prietor is at all charges of tillage, dividing the 
produce with the cultivator. 

The silver coinage of Nepaul is somewhat 
similar to that in use throughout British India ; 
in all the northern provinces of which, adjoining 
Nepaul, it passes current : the copper coinage is 
most extensive, and consists of shapeless lumps 
of copper, eighteen or twenty of which go to a 
halfpenny ; they are used by the natives of India 
in preference to their own pice. 

But it is time to take leave of this interesting- 
country, with its snowy mountains and sunny 
valleys — ^its ignorant people and enlightened Mi- 
nister — its bloodstained past and hopeful future. 
I had already mentally whispered my adieu, as, 
riding behind ni}^ companion on the rawboned 
pony, I crossed the boundary stream ; and pleased 
and interested as we had been with our short 
stay in Nepaul, still we could not help regretting 



DEPARTURE FROM NEPAUL. 205 

that it had not fallen to our lot to discover new 
wonders — to encamp on the shores of the great 
lake situated in the distant province of Malebum, 
the existence of which was vaguely hinted at by 
my friend Colonel Dhere Shum Shere — to explore 
unvisited mountains, and to luxuriate in the 
magnificent scenery which they must contain ; 
the enjoyment heightened by the feeling that we 
were the first Europeans who had penetrated 
their inhospitable recesses. 



206 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU, 



CHAPTER XYI. 

Journey to Luckuow — Nocturnal disasters — View of the Himalayas— 
Wild-beast fights — Banquet given by the King of Gudh — Grand display 
of firewoiks — Om* return to cantonments. 

Unquestionably tlie pleasures of travelling can- 
not be said to be altogether unalloyed — a con- 
sideration wliich the journey from Segowly to 
Lucknow irresistibly forced upon our minds, how 
determined soever we might be to adhere to the 
traveller's first principle of m^aking the best of 
everything. We left the station about dusk, 
upon a night in which the elements seemed to 
have combined to cause us as much discomfort as 
possible, and the violence of the storm about 
midnight compelled us to take shelter in every 
tope of trees we came to, or, as it appeared to 
me, wherever the bearers thought we stood a 
good chance of being struck by the lightning, 
which was vividh^ flashing in most unpleasant 
proximity. The deluge of rain soon made the 
path so slippery that our progress was much re- 
tarded, which would not have signified had it not 
happened that every now and then my slumbers 
were most disagreeably disturbed by a crash 
which flattened my nose against the side of the 



VIEW OF THE HIMALAYAS. 207 

palanquin, or produced a violent shock to every 
part of my body, the effect of a slip of some un- 
happy bearer who was himself on the broad of 
his back, and had brought down the palanquin, 
bearers and all, in his tumble. 

This occurred to me no less than five times in 
one night, and the consequence was that my pa- 
lanquin was in even a worse condition than my 
body ; it did not possess a single uncracked panel, 
nor were there any means of keeping the doors 
in, far less closed, and the cooling influence of 
the rain which pelted upon me was only counter- 
acted by the feverish anxiety I experienced from 
the momentary expectation of feeling the bottom 
give way, which would have inevitably landed 
me in the mud in a most deplorable condition — 
as had been the case with every book or other 
loose article about me. 

Daylight, however, revealed a prospect which 
banished at once the remembrance of our noc- 
turnal annoyances. The whole of the Himalayan 
range, tinged by the glowing rays of the rising 
sun, displayed to our delighted and astonished 
gaze its long and majestic line of snowy peaks, 
while the atmosphere, cleared by the night's 
heavy rain, brought out in bold relief the sharp 
outline of every point and angle from the clear 
horizon-line of the various summits down to 
where the light morning haze still shrouded their 
base. 

Unobscured by intervening mountains, and 



208 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

towering high above a sea of mist, well may they 
impress with wonder and admiration the traveller 
journeying over the plains of India, as he beholds 
them for the first time ; nor could I, familiar as 
they were to me, withdraw my gaze until the in- 
creasing power of the sun rendered the atmo- 
sphere more hazy, and gradually veiled this glo- 
rious picture from my view, as if it were too 
precious to be exhibited for any length of 
time. 

The journey to Goruckpore occupied us two 
nights and a day of incessant travelling over a 
flat but cheerful looking wheat country. It is a 
pretty little station, containing a regiment and a 
few civilians, and is situated on the banks of the 
Kapti, our old Nepaulese acquaintance under a 
very different face. 

The Gograh, which we crossed the following 
morning, is the boundary that divides the British 
territory from that of his Majesty of Oudh ; and 
Fyzabad was the first town in his dominions at 
which we halted. Situate about six miles from 
the river, it is approached by a narrow muddy 
lane which winds among numbers of squalid huts, 
while a considerable sprinkling of handsome 
mosques and minarets showed the predominance 
of Mahomedanism in the country in which we 
were now travelling ; but they all seemed falling 
to decay, and were inhabited chiefly by Hindoo 
monkeys, who lazily inspected one another on 
the sunny corners of some ruined temple, or 



WILD-BEAST FIGHTS. 209 

chased each other irreverently through the sacred 
groves. 

Fyzabad was formerly the capital ; but the 
seat of government was changed to Lucknow at 
the accession of Azof-up Dowlah in 1775. 

We were not sorry, after spending another 
twenty-four hours in our rickety palanquins, to 
see the massive mosques and lofty minarets of 
Lucknow looming in the distance, while hand- 
some buildings in varied styles of architecture 
gave to this city a handsome and more imposing 
appearance than any I had yet visited in the pro- 
vinces of India. 

We had been so much delayed by the weather, 
that we missed seeing the wild-beast fight, which 
was just concluded as we entered the town. This 
was not so much to be regretted, however, since, 
from all we heard, it had on this occasion proved 
a tame affair, though it is often most exciting. 
The fight between the buffalo and tiger seemed 
to have caused most interest, but the unfair prac- 
tice of blunting the horns of the buffalo was not 
congenial to the fair-play feelings of the British 
portion of the community. Those who have wit- 
nessed a combat between a hyena and a donkey, 
however, say that it exceeds in its ludicrous inte- 
rest any other of these animal encounters ; the 
donkey (as is natural) possesses the sympathies 
of the spectators, and usually comes off victorious. 

His Majesty had prepared a grand entertain- 
ment for the evening, whither, in company with 



210 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

my kind host, the Assistant Resident, I was by 
no means sorry to repair — for the King of Oudh 
is necessarily associated in one's mind with ex- 
quisite sauces and viands, and we promised our- 
selves a first-rate dinner after our tedious journey. 

The street leading to the palace was brilliantly 
illuminated, as was also the palace itself, while 
the view from the reception-rooms was most 
unique. The glare of lamps lighted up a square, 
in which was a garden fitted with the grotesque 
frames of the various fireworks of the evening. 
Birds and beasts of all descriptions were there, 
waiting to be let off. Meantime, extraordinary 
equipages came driving up in rapid succession ; 
the magnificent coach-and-six of the King was 
followed by the unpretending buggy of the bold 
subaltern, while natives of high degree descended 
from gorgeously attired elephants, or sprang 
lightly off their prancing Arabs : the varied cos- 
tumes of the different guests as they passed under 
a blaze of lamps added not a little to the bril- 
liancy and novelty of the scene. 

The court-yard behind contained a large tank, 
in which the reflection of hundreds of lamps glit- 
tered brightly. Servitors, soldiers, and officers 
of his Condimental Majesty's household, filled 
every available portion of the yard. The spa- 
cious reception and banqueting rooms were 
crowded to excess, and smelt like a perfumer's 
shop in which, by some accident, all the bottles 
had been left uncorked ; while brilliantly-attired 



THE KIXG. 211 

natives scratched past you, glittering with jewels, 
and chevaux defrise of sharp gold tinsel. 

At last the King made his appearance, and the 
guests all jostled into chairs as best they might. 
My position, almost immediately opposite his 
Majesty, afforded me ample opportunity of in- 
specting the quantity and quality of the jewels 
with which his person was absolutely loaded, and 
which I had never seen equalled in magnificence : 
a rope of pearls, passing over one shoulder, was 
tied in a knot at his waist, from which the costly 
ends negligently depended ; his turban and breast 
were covered with diamonds and other precious 
stones ; and it was a matter of wonder that he 
did not sink under the heat of the room, com- 
bined with the extent of mineral productions he 
carried on his person. But the jewels, though 
worthy of great attention, did not possess nearly 
so much interest in my eyes as did the mode by 
which he renovated the burly form that they 
adorned. On one side of him stood the bearer 
of his magnificently-jewelled hookah, on the other 
the bearer of the royal spoon, the contents of 
which he was already wistfully surveying as it 
was mixed up by the skilful feeder into the form 
and consistency that his Majesty loved, and put, 
as a nurse would put pap, into his Majesty's 
mouth, which was then carefully wiped by ano- 
ther man, who, I presume, is called the " wiper,'' 
and who was succeeded in his turn of duty by 
the hookah-bearer, who gently inserted the mouth- 



212 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

piece between tlie royal lips, in order that his 
Majesty might fill up, by a puff of the fragrant 
weed, the time required for the preparation of 
another spoonful. This routine of feeding, wiping, 
and smoking was only varied when the King 
slowly licked his lips, which he did in a dignified 
manner, and with a reproachful look at the 
wiper, whereat the wiper might be observed to 
tremble : poor wiper ! I dare say that, if his 
Majesty finds it necessary to lick his lips thrice 
in one meal, it is equivalent to signing poor 
wiper's death-warrant. But his Majesty was not 
the only person that licked his lips ; I found my- 
self repeatedly doing the same, but it was with 
the feelings of a hungry hound as he envies a 
more fortunate member of the pack the possession 
of a juicy bone. Though the royal table groaned 
with viands, and though I was famishing, there 
was nothing but sponge-cake that any but a 
madly imprudent person could have ventured on. 
The cold cutlets, fried in rancid lard, rise up be- 
fore me now, an unpleasant vision of the ]Dast ; 
and I distinctly remember the mingled disgust 
and horror which I felt while breaking the crust 
of yellowish tallow to help a gallant young officer 
near me, who must have endured the privations 
of a Sutlej campaign to enable him to eat it. 

At last we discovered some drinkable cham- 
pagne, and drank her Majesty's health, with all 
the honours ; after which we paid a similar com- 
pliment to his Majesty of Oudh, while all the 



GRAND DISPLAY OF FIRE-WORKS. 213 

grandees of the realm — who, sitting on chairs 
like ourselves, lined one side of the long range 
of tables, and seemed enveloped in a blaze of 
glistening jewels — looked as if they thought it 
all a very disrespectful proceeding. 

There was a ver}^ loud band that played " God 
save the Queen," and two or three very discord- 
ant singing- women, who sang what I suppose 
was an Ode upon Sauce, as being the Oudh na- 
tional anthem. At length dinner was over, and 
immediately there was a rush to the windows to 
see the fireworks, which seemed to be all let off 
at once, so that it was impossible to distinguish 
anything but a universal twisting and whirling, 
and fizzing and cracking ; and an elephant 
looked very brilliant for a moment, and then 
went off through his eyes with a bang, and was 
no more ; — sham men exploded ; and real men 
jumped into sparkling, crackling flames ; and 
rockets and fire-balloons went up ; so that, if 
the lessee of Yauxhall or Cremorne could let off 
or send up half as many things as were let off 
and went up on this occasion in the court-yard 
of the Lucknow Durbar, he would make a for- 
tune. At last everything that had not gone in 
some other direction went out ; the King stood 
at the top of the stairs, and those who were pre- 
sented, after receiving tinsel necklaces from the 
hands of royalty, passed down stairs, and the 
guests went away by whatever means of convey- 
ance they might possess — a very motley and 



214 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

somewhat noisy party. The mode which we 
made use of to return to cantonments, a distance 
of four miles, was rather singular, not to be re- 
commended except on an emergency : the car- 
riages seemed to have decreased in proportion 
as the number of guests had multiplied, and in 
some unaccountable manner many of us were left 
to accomplish our return as best we could. It 
was in vain that we attempted to persuade the 
seven occupants of a buggy to receive us among 
them — we met with a stern refusal. It was use- 
less to supplicate a number of rich Baboos, on a 
handsome elephant, to help us in our difficulties ; 
the rich Baboos laus'lied, and told us we mio-ht 
get up behind, if we liked. And so all that 
brilliant throng went whirling back to canton- 
ments, and we were left disconsolately standing 
in the court-yard, with the probability of having 
to trudge home. This was not to be thought of 
for a moment, and we had just arrived at a pitch 
of desperation when a handsome carriage, with 
the blinds all up, and drawn by a pair of high- 
stepping horses, came rattling toward us. Not 
a moment was to be lost ; we rushed frantically 
forward and ordered an immediate halt. In 
vain did the venerable coachman and deter- 
mined-looking servant intimate to us that the 
carriage was his Majesty's ; his Majesty, we as- 
sured them, was still carousing in his palace ; so 
depositing them both in the interior, without 
loss of time we mounted the box, and a moment 



RETURN TO CANTONMENTS. 215 

after the high-stepping horses were dashing 
along the road to cantonments in brilliant style. 
We looked contemptuously down into the buggy, 
still clung to by its seven occupants, and gal- 
loped at a startling pace past the jocose Baboos, 
very much to the annoyance of their sedate ele- 
phant. On arriving at the cantonments we libe- 
rated his Majesty's domestics, and, ordering them 
to be careful how they heated his high-caste 
Arabs on their way back, we adjourned to a re- 
past, to which the king's dinner had not incapa- 
citated us from doing ample justice. 



216 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

A Lucknow Derby-day — Sights of the city — Grand Trunk Road to Delhi — 
Delhi — The Coutub— Agra — The fort and Taj— The ruins of Futtehpore 
Secreh — A loquacious cicerone — A visit to the fort of Gwalior — The 
Mahratta Durbar — Tiger-shooting on foot. 

On tlie following morning, in spite of all this 
dissipation, we, as well as the greater part of 
the population of Lucknow, were perfectly ready- 
to go to the races, which took place at an early 
hour. After seeing the first race, which was a 
well-contested one, and in which the natives 
seemed to take particular interest, I went to- 
wards the town, and was amused on the way by 
comparing the various conveyances used at 
Lucknow with those that may be seen on the 
road to Epsom on the Derby-day. 

Here came dashing along a coach and six, the 
four leading horses ridden by postilions, while a 
sporting Baboo drove the wheelers, and two 
more sporting friends sat inside, and outriders 
vociferously cleared the way. Here two of the 
King's eunuchs jogged along in great style on 
camels with gaudy trappings ; after them came 
prancing steeds bearing some gorgeously-dressed 
young princes, and then innumerable elephants 
bearing all sorts of disreputable-looking charac- 



DERBY-DAY AT LUCKNOW. 217 

ters, the gents and blacklegs of the Lucknow 
community. In fact, I recognised specimens of 
nearly all the various classes of society which 
are to be met with at races in England, except 
that none of the fair sex were to be seen on this 
occasion. 

There can be no doubt that Lucknow is a fast 
place, and contains a very sporting population ; 
and, if I remember right, the winning horse was 
the property of the turbaned owner of a four-in- 
hand. 

As in duty bound, we explored the whole city, 
bnt a correct idea of the edifices with which it 
abounds is only to be gained from the drawings, 
which are executed by the natives with the most 
delicate minuteness, and convey a very correct 
notion of the exterior of the handsome mosques, 
minarets, tombs, and palaces, which render Luck- 
now a most interesting locality. 

The Imaum Bar a is said to contain the largest 
arched room in the world, a fact which we very 
much doubted. The " Gate of Constantinople " 
is handsome ; not so La Martin^re, an attempt at 
an Italian villa, the figures on the roof of which 
look as much out of keeping with the rest of the 
edifice as the building itself looks out of place 
planted in the midst of paddy-fields ; it was 
erected by General Claude Martine, originally a 
French grenadier, and it is now, according to his 
express intentions, devoted to educational pur- 
poses, 

10 



218 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

^ » 

One cannot but be struck by the singular taste 
of eastern potentates, who are so much more 
careful to provide a handsome place for their 
recejDtion when dead than they are for their 
residence while alive. Were I the King of Oudh 
I should immediately move into the handsome 
tomb at present vacant, and leave directions to 
be buried in my palace. 

A night's journey took us to Cawnpore, one 
of the largest and most disagreeable-looking sta- 
tions in India. Here I resumed my acquaintance 
with the great trunk road under more favourable 
circumstances, and was not a little pleased to 
find how rapidly I was approaching Delhi. The 
carriage in which I travelled was a small palan- 
quin on wheels^ which one horse dragged along 
with ease ; an(J as the stages were short, and the 
road very good, he was generally put into a hand- 
gallop at starting, and kept his pace up for the 
five or six miles allotted to him. 

The great number of carts we passed confirmed 
me in thinking that this was the proper line for 
an experimental railway. The country is here 
well cultivated throughout ; there is no water- 
carriage to contend against, and the present 
means of convevino- o-oods is lamentablv slow 
and expensive. The formation of the country 
affords every facility for the construction of a 
railway, being perfectly level throughout ; 
whereas between Calcutta and Benares, the Raj- 
mahal hills have to be traversed ; besides these 



DELHI. 219 

many advantages,- this line would be attended 
with a pecuniary saving to the Government, as 
the two or three military stations now on this 
road might be abolished. 

The sights at Delhi are worth a visit, but are 
too well known to need description. In the 
centre of the town stands the Jumma Musjid, the 
St. Peter's of Mahomedans ; its handsome domes 
and tapering minarets are built of red sandstone 
and white marble, a combination which is com- 
mon in the edifices of this city, and which pro- 
duces a most agreeable effect. From the summit 
of one of the minarets an extensive view is 
obtained. 

The large and well-built city, containing 
156,000 inhabitants, is enclosed by a wall, beyond 
which the country stretches away in appearance 
much like the Campagna at Rome. It is covered 
with ruins, which, with a few modern tombs 
scattered amongst prostrate slabs, give it a pic- 
turesque aspect. Through this Campagna we 
drove one day to see the Coutub. We passed 
the handsome tomb of Suftur Jung, and the 
mausoleums of many other worthies, the splendour 
of whose present resting-places betokened their 
former greatness. The Coutub is a tall column 
that is said to have been originally intended for 
a minaret, though the Hindoos claim it as hav- 
ing been erected before the Mahomedan invasion ; 
however that may be, it is a singularly beautiful 
monument, and rises to a height of 260 feet. It 



220 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

•was wortli toiling up its narrow circular stair- 
case to enjoy the view which the summit afforded 
of the country I had just traversed ; the Jum- 
ma Musjid at Delhi was discernible in the dis- 
tance, while immediately below lay the large 
camp of the Commander-in-Chief, the tents of 
which were pitched with great regularity, and 
looked dazzling white in the bright sun. After 
descending the column, I wandered awhile amidst 
the ruins at its foot, some of which looked very 
much as if they were of Jain origin, — and then 
returned to a desirable tomb, which the hospitable 
commissioner has converted into a delightful re- 
treat from the noisy city. 

I left Delhi with no little regret after an 
agreeable sojourn of a week, and rolled rapidly 
over the excellent road to Agra, so smooth that 
it was irresistible to the laziest horse, and 130 
miles were easily accomplished in eighteen hours 
including stoppages. 

Of Agra the passing traveller can say little, 
because its wonders are so inexhaustible and so 
interesting. The magnificent tomb at Secundra 
of that greatest of Mahomedan princes, Ackbar, 
must be left to the description already given by 
travellers of more leisure ; so must the fort and 
the white marble palace which it contains, where 
dwelt the powerful Aurungzebe when he made 
Agra his capital. It was an endless source of 
interest to me to wander through the paved 
courts and under the marble columns of that 



AGRA. 221 

glistening palace, — to look down upon tlie river, 
winding at the base of the lofty walls, — to 
descend into dark vaults in which were fountains 
and baths with water ever cool, — to creep yet 
lower, with a dim flickering light, into the ex- 
ecution chamber, and stand under the beam 
which had sustained the fair form of many a frail 
and faithless beauty, — to retreat from the stifling 
influence of its confined air, and return to inspect 
delicate little mosques, in which the Queen and 
her maidens used to perform their devotions, and 
which were as pure and chaste as the ladies were 
supposed to be. 

The only other interesting relics in the fort 
are the renowned gates of Somnath, which are 
placed in the arsenal, and which need no descrip- 
tion from my pen. But the greatest sight which 
Agra affords is the far-famed Taj Mahal : 
situated on the banks of the river, it is a con- 
spicuous object from every quarter, and is as 
beautiful in its proportions when seen from a 
distance as in its details when more closely and 
minutely inspected : an unfailing source of grati- 
fication to the beholder, it well merits repeated 
visits. In its vastness, in its costly material, in 
its beautiful proportion, and in its delicacy of 
detail, it stands a noble monument of the talent 
which devised, and of the skill which executed 
it. It is said to have incessantly occupied 
20,000 men for 22 years, and three million 
pounds sterling were expended upon it. 



222 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

The intention of Shall Jehan, whose ashes it 
covers, was to have connected it by a marble 
bridge with a tomb exactly similar on the oppo- 
site side of the river, in which were to be 
interred the remains of his wife. This vast 
design he never lived to accomplish, and his son, 
who Avas of an economical turn of mind, did not 
consider the maternal ashes worth a further 
expenditure of three millions, and so Shah 
Jehan and his wife lie buried in one tomb, which 
may safely be pronounced the most magnificent 
in the world. 

TS* ^ •?? •?? ^ -fr 

I like the Indian system of starting on a 
journey after dinner. When other people are 
going to bed, you get into your comfortable 
palanquin, and wake up 30 miles from your com- 
panions of the previous evening, who are only 
beginning to rub their eyes, when you have 
already actively commenced the work of explor- 
ino: the si^'hts at vour destination. Thus did I 
inspect the old city of Futtehpore Secreli under 
the guidance of Busreet Alec, a garrulous old 
man, and a perfect specimen of a cicerone, Avith 
whom I at once plunged into the most extensive 
ruins I had seen in India : cloisters, colonnades, 
domes, walls, kiosks, and turrets, heaped toge- 
ther in the utmost confusion, a mass of red sand- 
stone, except when some white marble denoted a 
more sacred or interesting spot as it glistened in 
the beams of the risin"' sun. 



rUTTEHPORE SECREH. 223 

Ackbar, the founder of the spacious palaces 
here situated, was an exception to the general 
rule of Eastern potentates, and his residence 
must have been even more magnificent than the 
handsome tomb of Secundra, in which his ashes 
repose. The legend regarding the reason for 
which Futtehpore Secreh was pitched upon by 
the monarch as his seat of government is some- 
what singular. It seems that he had long 
desired a successor to perpetuate his great name, 
and rule over his vast dominions, the possession 
of most of which he owed to his own strono* arm 
and fertile genius ; it was therefore a great dis- 
appointment to him that the wished-for prince 
did not make his appearance. Ackbar accord- 
ingly consulted Shah Selim Shurstre upon this 
important subject, and Shah Selim Shurstre, who 
lived at Futtehpore Secreh, recommended a 
pilgrimage to Ajmeer, which was no sooner 
accomplished than Ackbar became the happy 
father of Jehan Giri. In gratitude for so 
eminent a service, and in order to have the 
benefit of such sage advice in future cases of 
emergency^ Ackbar left Delhi, and fixed his resi- 
dence at Futtehpore Secreh, which place pos- 
sessed the further advantage of being more in 
the centre of his recent conquests. Notwith- 
standing his devotion to the holy man, Ackbar 
was a most unorthodox Mahomedan, as the 
figures of animals carved upon the pillars of the 
palace plainly testify. These figures were sadly 



224 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

mutilated by Ms undutiful grandson, tlie bigoted 
Aurungzebe, who held all such representations 
in much the same horror that a Presbyterian 
■would a picture of the Virgin. 

Busreet and I went over the ladies' apart- 
ments, which must have been very cheerless, 
since they are entirely composed of immense 
slabs of red sandstone, and look hard and uncom- 
fortable. Descending from them to the level of 
the court-yard, Busreet took me into a narrow 
sort of corridor, and jabbered incessantly for 
some minutes. I thought I could distinguish 
the words " hide and seek ;''' but it was so very 
unnatural to suppose that the only words of 
English Busreet knew were "hide and seek," 
that I imagined he was repeating some Hindos- 
tanee phrase, until he dodged round corners 
and behind pillars, crying out as he did so, 
'• Hide and seek ! Hide and seek !" — from which 
I at last understood that he meant to inform me 
that the ladies used to play that Occidental 
game in Ackbar's harem ; so, after a short game 
to show the old man that I understood him, we 
strolled on to a singular kiosk-like little building, 
my guide every now and then renewing the 
game and hobbling round corners despite of my 
remonstrances to the contrary. The little 
temple was the residence of the holy man, and 
near it a room of most extraordinary construc- 
tion astonished me not a little, since I could not 
divine its use, and Busreet afforded no informa- 



ackbar's palace. 225 



tion on the subject, as he pulled my head down 
and whispered something in my ear, which left 
me in doubt whether what he told me was a 
secret, or whether he meant to intimate that it 
was a whispering gallery : its real use I after- 
wards discovered. 

In the centre of a square room was a pillar 15 
or 16 feet in height, the circular top of which 
was six or eight feet in diameter and had been 
surrounded by a stone parapet ; communicating 
with this singular pulpit-like seat were four 
narrow stone passages or bridges, one from each 
corner of the room. In each corner a minister 
of the realm used to sit, only one of whom might 
approach their royal master at a time. Seated 
on this centre point high above the heads of his 
subjects, who crowded the room below, and 
approached only by the four narrow causeways, 
the King deemed himself secure from assassina- 
tion. 

It was an original idea, and, after inventing so 
novel a method for guarding against treachery, 
he deserved to die in his bed, as in fact he did. 

Emerging from this singular apartment, we 
crossed a square, in the midst of which was 
placed an immense slab of stone, raised a little 
off the ground ; on each of the four sides of this 
slab there were 16 squares marked on the 
ground like those on a chess-board. 

Four ladies used to stand on the squares on 
each division, making sixteen in all, each party 

10* 



226 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

of four dressed in garments of different colour 
from those worn by the others. The King and 
his ministers sat on the slab in the middle, and 
the game, which was something like chess, com- 
menced. It must have been a glorious game : 
the prizes were numerous and worth playing for, 
and one can easily imagine the crafty old King- 
moving his Queen so as to take the lovely slave 
of one of his ministers, or a handsome and fashion- 
able young noble giving check to Queen and con- 
cubine ; probably the Queen could not be taken, 
but it must have added immensely to the interest 
of the game to be playing with pieces that were 
interested in the result. 

We ascended a handsome gateway of the mos- 
que, 120 feet in height, whence I looked over a 
wide expanse of level country, while the intricate 
maze of ruins through which we had been wander- 
ing lay spread at our feet like a map ; the wall 
of the city is still entire, and encloses a space of 
six miles in circumference, the extent of this once 
famous place. 

The court-yard of the mosque, which was at 
least 150 yards square, contains the white marble 
tomb of the holy man. It is, without exception, 
the most perfect little bijou imaginable. The 
walls are composed of immense slabs, or rather 
screens of marble, delicately carved and per- 
forated, so that, while they allow a dim light to 
penetrate, the effect of the tracery, when viewed 
from the interior, is exquisite. While I was ad- 



DEPARTURE FOR BOMBAY. 227 

miring this beautiful structure Busreet suddenly- 
assured me that he was very fond of tea. As he 
had already made many other observations 
equally unconnected with the matter in hand, I 
merely assured him of my sympathy ; when the 
more home-question of Avhether I had any tea at 
once enlightened me as to his meaning. I ac- 
cordingly invited him to take tea with me, and 
we sat on the steps of the good man's tomb, and 
had a sociable cup together ; after which I entered 
my palanquin, and, travelling through the heat 
of the day, returned to Agra in a semi-grilled 
condition. 

•TV* "Xr tP ^f *)(? 

Having seen most of the sights of Agra (and 
it has a goodly share of its own), and having 
made the necessary preparations for the con- 
veyance to Bombay of our party, now four in 
number, we took our departure from the hand- 
some and hospitable residence of the Lieutenant- 
Governor, on the evening of the 9th of March, 
and drove in our buggies by moonlight over 
rather a wild country, in rather a wild manner, 
arriving at the station, where our palanquins 
were to meet us, a little before midnight. 

An Indian coolie's powers of endurance are 
marvellous. Our cortege consisted of 112 ; and 
they were to carry ourselves, servant, baggage, 
and provisions, at the rate of thirty-five miles a 
night, for as many consecutive nights as we 
should choose to require their services. 



228 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

We arrived at Dholpoor next day — looked 
down a magnificent well, about sixty feet in dia- 
meter, with corridors round it, and a handsome 
flight of stairs leading down to them — and then 
pushed on for Gwalior, crossing the battle-field 
of Maharajpore, and paying a visit to the fort 
perched upon the scarped rock. Some portions 
of the fort walls were covered with various de- 
vices in green and yellow porcelain, which 
added to their singular and characteristic appear- 
ance. 

We visited the young Rajah in Durbar, and 
the difference between the Mahratta and Ne- 
paulese Courts was most striking. The waving 
plumes, hussar jackets, and gold-laced pantaloons 
of the latter were exchanged for the simple white 
turban and flowing robe of the Indian senator ; 
but though the character of their costume may 
have been more in accordance with our ideas of 
Oriental habits, there was a lamentable deficiency 
of intellect in their faces, and the fire and intel- 
ligence which flashed from the eye of the High- 
land noble were wanting in that of the Mahratta 
chief. After two days' agreeable sojourn at the 
Residency we proceeded for two or three con- 
secutive nights over flat a dreary country, spend- 
ing the days in the miserable little resthouses 
provided for the accommodation of the traveller, 
and generally picking up a few partridges for 
breakfast. 

At Goonah'we had a prospect of more impor- 



TIGER-SHOOTING ON FOOT. 2.29 

tant game. We here fell in with a most ardent 
sportsman : the numerous trophies of bears and 
tigers with which his bungalow was adorned 
proved his success as well as his skill. 

With him we sallied forth at about 10 a.m., 
some on horseback and some on an elephant, all 
equally indifferent to the sun, fiercely blazing in 
an unclouded sky, and reached a dell,' the sides 
of which were covered with a low scrubby 
jungle, where sport was to be expected. 

As tiger-shooting on foot is almost unheard of 
in the northern part of India, and is practised in 
the southern only, because the tiger there is a 
much less formidable animal than his majesty of 
Bengal, we were told to proceed with consider- 
able caution by the veteran, who posted us in 
the most likely places, saying to one of our party, 
as he stationed him in the most favourable local- 
ity, " I put you here because the tiger is nearly 
sure to charge down this hill ; and if he does, 
there will be very little chance of escape for you, 
as you see he has so much the advantage of you, 
that if you do not kill him with either barrel — 
and the skull of a tiger is so narrow that it is 
exceedingly improbable you will be able to do so 
— he must kill you ; but I would not for the world 
that you should miss the sport.'^ 

Thus did this self-denying Nimrod debar him- 
self the pleasure of being charged by a tiger, 
reserving it, in the kindest manner, for his guests, 
who but half appreciated the sacrifice he was 



230 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

making on their account, from their dread of 
themselves becoming a sacrifice to the tiger. 
And as they crouched behind their respective 
bushes they had time to brood over the appal- 
ling stories of hairbreadth escapes just recounted 
to them by the gallant captain, who had been 
particular in describing the requisites for the 
successful tiger-shot — the steady hand and stsady 
nerve — admitting that these were not always 
efficacious, as the last tiger he had encountered 
had struck him on the leg, and his torn inex- 
pressibles existed to this day to testify to it. 
The thoughts of this and sundry other escapes 
he had experienced made the blood run cold, as 
one imagined every rustle of the leaves to be a 
bristling tiger, preparing for his fatal spring. 

Gradually the beaters approached nearer and 
nearer, and, as the circle became smaller, pea- 
fowl innumerable flew over our heads with a 
loud whirr, their brilliant plumage glancing in 
the sunshine like shot-silk. A few moments 
more, and I perceived stripes gliding rapidly 

behind a bush, and a shot from L made me 

suspect that our .worst anticipations had been 
realised, and that we had really found a tiger — 
a suspicion which soon disappeared, however, as 
a grisly hya3na bounded away, having received a 
ball in his hind-quarters, which unfortunately 
did not prevent his retreat. 

The beaters soon after appeared over the 
brow of the hill, and relieved us for the present 



TIGER-SHOOTING ON FOOT. 231 

from further apprehension of that charge which* 
was to seal our fate, for the monarch of the 
Indian jungle had changed his location. We 
beat some more jungles, in the hope of finding 
other game, but only succeeded in bagging a 
deer. I had a long shot at a four-horned buck, 
but the smooth bore of my piece was not equal 
to the distance. 

On our way home we came upon a cave, 
which, from marks in the neighbourhood, bore 
evident signs of containing a pantlier ; we ac- 
cordingly attempted to smoke him out by light- 
ing quantities of straw at the mouth, but he was 
not to be forced out of his secure retreat, and 
preferred bearing an amount of smoke that 
would have stifled a German student. 

On the following day we renewed our attempt 
to find a tiger, and were to a certain extent 
successful, as at one time we were within a few 
yards of him, and could see the bushes move, 
but he succeeded in breaking through the line 
of beaters ; and some deer and a neelgye were 
all the game we could boast of, notwithstanding 
a perseverance and endurance of heat worthy of 
greater success. 



232 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

The carnival at Indore — Extraordinary scene in the palace of the Holkar — 
A night at the caves of A junta — The caves of Ellora and fortress of 
Doulatabad — The merits of a palkee — Reflections on the journey from 
Agra to Bombay — Adieu to India. 

After a few days' more trayelling over tlie hot 
dry plains of Malwa we reached its capital, 
Indore, where we spent some days at the hospi- 
table mansion of the Resident, and paid a visit 
to the Rajah, whose palace is situated in the 
centre of that large and populous town. Dur- 
ing our visit a most extraordinary scene occur- 
red. It happened that a sort of carnival was 
going on ; but the bonbons and bouquets of 
Italy are here represented by little balls con- 
taining red, purple, or yellow dust, which burst 
the moment they strike the object at which they 
are thrown, and very soon after the row com- 
mences two-thirds of the population are so 
covered with red dust that they present the 
most extraordinary appearance ; but it is not 
the dust-balls which contribute so much to the 
dyeing of the population as the squirts full of 
similar coloured liquids, which are to be seen 
playing in every direction. Woe to the luckless 
individual who incautiously exhibits himself iu 



CARNIVAL AT INDORE. 233 

the streets of Indore during the " Hoolie ;" not 
that we ran any risk upon the occasion of our visit 
to the Rajah, as we were on that account tabooed, 
and could laugh at our ease at the rest of the 
claret-coloured world. Here a woman passed 
spotted like a coach-dog : she had just come in 
for a spent discharge, and had escaped the de- 
luge, which her puce-coloured little boy had re- 
ceived so fully that his whole face and person 
seemed to partake of the prevailing tint ; while 
yonder old grey-beard is dusting his moustache 
from the red powder which tinges it in strong 
contrast to the rest of his sallow countenance. 

After going through the ceremony of squat- 
ting on the floor of the Durbar — our seven pair 
of unruly legs all converging to a common 
centre, from our inability to double them under 
US, as his Majesty did — we adjourned to the hall 
below to witness the "Hoolie" in safety. On 
each side of the court-yard was a sort of garden- 
engine, one filled with a purple and the other 
with a light-red fluid. The King's body-guard 
were now marched in and divided into two 
parties, each sitting under one of the garden 
engines. At the main gateway of the court- 
yard stood two elephants, with tubs of coloured 
liquid before them. At a given signal the gal- 
lant troops were exposed to a most murderous 
cross-fire, which they were not allowed to re- 
turn : both garden-engines began playing upon 
them furiously, and the elephants, filling their 



234 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

trunks, sent the contents far and wide over the 
victims, who crouched down and bore in patience 
the blood-red storm. At the same moment that 
a dexterously-applied squirt whisked ojff some 
individual's turban, a fountain from the other 
side playing into his eyes and mouth prevented 
him from recovering it until some more fortunate 
neighbour, suffering perhaps from ear-ache, re- 
ceived the claret-coloured salvo with such vio- 
lence that, if it failed to drive away the pain 
altogether, it must have rendered him a martyr 
to that complaint for the rest of his life. 

After getting a thorough soaking they were 
sprinkled all over with a fine red powder, which, 
caking upon them, completed the ceremony by 
rendering them the most n^uddy, sticky-looking 
objects imaginable, as they withdrew from the 
presence of the young Rajah, after receiving 
pawn. 

We were now offered balls of powder : had 
we thrown one at his Majesty, which some of his 
household seemed very anxious we should do, 
nothing could have saved us from a deluge. To 
commence the game upon the royal platform is 
the sio'nal of indiscriminate warfare throua'hout 
the whole palace ; the now passive troops would 
then have been allowed to retaliate, the garden- 
engines would have been stormed and captured 
by opposing squadrons, and the battle would 
have raged furiously until dark : whereas now, 
company of soldiers after company were ordered 



CAVES OF AJUNTA. 235 

in to be shot down like sheep. We, however, 
were contented with seeing each party come in 
white and go out red, without wishing to go out 
red ourselves ; besides which, we should have 
been outnumbered, and Britons, for the first 
time, would have been obliged to beat a retreat 
with tarnished honour as well as tarnished jack- 
ets. 

The usual ceremony of presenting scents, 
spices, and garlands, having terminated, we left 
the young King, much pleased with his intelli- 
gence and good-nature ; though only seventeen, 
he is a stranger to those vices which are gene- 
rally inherent in natives, and inseparable from 
their courts. 

w ^ ^ ^ ^ 

We were ten days on our journey to the caves 
of Ajunta, having spent two or three at the hill 
fort of Aseerghur, a characteristic Mahratta 
stronghold ; it is perched TOO feet above the 
plain, and just capacious enough to contain a 
regiment, who must find some difiiculty in climb- 
ing its rocky steep approach, up which, however, 
the ponies of the garrison scramble nimbly- 
enough. 

. We galloped over one afternoon from Furda- 
pore to the caves of Ajunta, and were delighted 
with their romantic situation high up the rocky 
glen terminating in a waterfall, and so narrow, 
gloomy and silent, that it harmonized well with 
these mysterious caverns, in one of which, more 



236 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

free tlian the rest from bats, we determined to 
pass the night ; and here, surrounded by staring 
Bhuddas and rampant elephants, and gods and 
goddesses making vehement love, according to 
the custom of such gentry, we had a most com- 
fortable tea preparatory to turning in : spread- 
ing my blanket under the nose of a huge seated 
figure of Bhood, and guarded by two very tall 
individuals in faded painting, which, as they 
had watched over Bhood for twenty centuries, 
must have been well competent to perform the 
same kind office for me, I was soon comfortably 
asleep, my head pillowed on a prostrate little 
goddess, whom I was very reluctant to leave 
when daylight warned us to proceed upon the 
work of examining the wonders of the Eock 
Temples of Ajunta. 

So much has already been written on the in- 
teresting subject of the caves of Ajunta, that 
they are more or less familiar to every one, or, 
if not already familiar, are destined soon to be- 
come so, thanks to the skill and energy of Cap- 
tain Gill, who is at present engaged in making- 
copies of all the paintings. These Avill form a 
splendid collection, and some of them have al- 
ready been sent to England, and placed in tho 
collection at the East India House. It was 
doubly delightful to us, who had just previously 
examined the originals, to look over the portfo- 
lios of this talented draftsman. 

Ere we left the village of Ajunta we visited 



FORTRESS OF DOULATABAD. 237 

its neat whitewashed mosque : the association 
connected with it must be replete with interest 
to the Englishman, when he calls to mind that 
in it the Duke of Wellington — then Sir Arthur 
Wellesley — wrote his despatches immediately 
previous and subsequent to the victory of As- 
saye. 

The caves of Ellora are two days' journey 
from those of Ajunta, and are much more cheer- 
fully situated on the face of a hill commanding 
an extensive view over a more smiling country 
than is usually to be met with in the Deccan. 

It is difficult to say which set of caves are 
most worth seeing ; differing in many respects, 
they may be said to afford equal attraction to 
the traveller. Ellora can boast of. the wonder- 
ful " Kylas ;" Ajunta of those most interesting 
frescoes which carry the art of painting back to 
an unknown period, but which at Ellora have 
been almost totally obliterated by the ruthless 
and fanatical zeal of Aurungzebe. 

A few miles from the caves of Ellora frowns 
the rock fortress of Doulatabad, a conspicuous 
object from every side, and we soon discovered 
its interior to be as singularly interesting as its 
exterior was formidable and imposing. The 
rock itself is a pyramid rising abruptly to a 
height of TOO feet above the village which nes- 
tles at its base, while it is scarped all round to 
the broad moat by which it is encircled, forming 
a sheer precipice of 100 or 150 feet in depth. 



238 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

Passing tlirougli a massive gateway which led 
into the town, we entered the fort by a similar 
approach, and crossing the moat by a narrow 
bridge we plunged into a dark hole directly op- 
posite ; then passing by torchlight through some 
small caves which were entered by very low 
portals, we began to ascend the inclined plane 
which wound up the interior of the rock, and 
which gradually became steeper till it ended in 
a flight of steps, our guides lighting us on our 
uncertain path, until we emerged into 'daylight 
by a large iron trap-door, pierced with innume- 
rable small holes, the object of which, as well as 
of a groove in the rock communicating with the 
subterranean passage, was to enable the garri- 
son, by filling the passage vdth smoke and flame, 
to suffocate and blind the besiegers should they 
ever succeed by any accident in penetrating thus 
far — in itself, as it seemed to me, a very impro- 
bable contingency. We clambered up the face 
of the rock to its summit, whence we had an ex- 
tensive view of the arid plains of the Deccan. 

Arungabad is the first station which we had 
visited in the dominions -of the Nizam. We 
were now approaching the confines of civiliza- 
tion, and it became necessary to part with our 
palkees and the bearers, who had accompanied 
us from Agra. A separation from the latter 
was easily borne, and they, on their part, were 
no doubt glad to get rid of the burdens they had 
been carrying for the last month. But to bid 



THE MERITS OF A PALKEE. 239 

adieu for ever to one's palkee is a severe trial ; 
and no wonder, for to a man not in a hurry it is 
the most luxurious and independent means of 
travelling conceivable. 

If judiciously arranged it contains everything 
the traveller can want — a library, a cellar, a 
soda-water range, a wardrobe, a kitchen ; in 
fact, there is no limit to the elasticity of a 
palkee. My plan was, surreptitiously, to add a 
new comfort every day, and the unsuspecting 
coolies carried me along as briskly as if my 
palkee contained nothing but myself, and never 
seemed to feel the additional weight, upon the 
principle of the man who could lift an ox by dint 
of doing so every morning from the time when it 
was a calf. 

Then the delightful feeling of security, and 
the certainty that your bearers won't shy, or 
come into collision, or go off the rails, or other- 
wise injure your nerves or bones. You are 
independent of hotels and hospitality. If the 
traveller in India depended upon the former, he 
would pass many a night with the kerbstone for 
his pillow, if he had not courage to claim the 
latter — which, be it remembered, he is certain to 
receive abundantly at the hands of the Burra 
Sahib. A modest man has his palkee ; and for 
lack of courage on the one hand, and a resthouse 
on the other, he orders himself to be set down 
for the night by the wayside, and, shutting the 
doors towards the road, after boiling the water 



240 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

and making tea with the apparatus contained in 
his pantry, he lights his lamp, reads for an hour, 
pulls a light shawl over him, turns round, and 
goes to sleep as soundly as if he were sumptu- 
ously couched in Belgravia. 

If the palkee be a good one, it defies weather ; 
but I admit it is not pleasant, on a dark night, 
to be carried along a slippery road with a care- 
less set of bearers. 

During the whole period of our journey since 
we had left Agra, with one or two breaks in its 
ordinary routine, we seemed to have been pass- 
ing a monotonous existence at the same small 
and uncomfortable bungalow. It consists of 
two rooms ; in front is a tope of trees ; behind 
are a few low sandstone or trap hills, some 
scrubby bushes climbing up the sides, out of 
which a partridge may easily be flushed ; for the 
rest, the view extends over a boundless plain, 
assuming during the heat of the day a light 
yellow colour, at which period the coolies are 
all asleep in the verandah, snoring in an infinite 
and interesting variety of notes and keys. 

At sunset we take a constitutional, followed 
by our portable residences, into which, after a 
romantic tea-drinking by the roadside, we turn 
in for the night, awaking at daylight to find our- 
selves thirty miles nearer to our journey's end, 
in a bungalow precisely similar to the one we 
had lately quitted, and containing the same 
rickety table, greasy with the unwiped remains 



JOURNEY TO BOMBAY. 241 

of the last traveller's meal, wliicli the book will 
inform you was eaten a month ago — the same 
treacherous chairs, which look sound until you 
inadvertently sit upon them — the same doubtful- 
looking couch, from which the same interesting 
round little specimens emerge, much to the dis- 
comfort of the occupant — the same filthy bath- 
room, which it is evident the traveller a month 
ago did not use — the identical old kitmutgar or 
bungalow-keeper, who looks as uncivilized as the 
bungalow itself, and seems to partake of its 
rickety and dirty nature — the same clump of 
trees before, and the same desert plain behind ; 
— all tend to induce the belief either that you 
have never left the bungalow in which you spent 
the previous day, or that some evil genius has 
transported the said bungalow thirty miles for 
the express purpose of persecuting you with its 
horrors and miserable accommodation. 

Thus are 700 miles insensibly accomplished in 
a month by the traveller, who only passes a 
dreamy existence in dak bungalows, to be roused 
into violent action on his arrival at some sport- 
ing vicinity, a large cantonment, a native Court, 
rock temples, or other excitements, which must 
occur in the experiences of the Indian traveller. 

I went seventy miles in a bullock hackery, the 
most unpleasant mode of travelling I conceive 
that can exist ; then one hundred miles in a 
rickety phaeton with a pair of horses, which was 
in a slight degree less intolerable ; and after 

11 



242 JOURNEY TO KATMANDU. 

visiting Maliabulesliwa, the hill station of Bom- 
bay, I reached that mercantile emporium itself, 
not a little pleased at seeing the sea on the 
English side of India. I was disappointed with 
the far-famed Bay ; but perhaps it is difficult to 
do justice to scenery after so much wandering, 
when the most interesting view is the sight of 
home. Certainly one's impressions of a place are 
regulated in a great degree by the circumstances 
under which it is visited. Had Bombay been 
the port of debarkation instead of embarkation, 
the bay would have been lovely and the various 
points of view enchanting ; as it was, the 
prettiest object to my j)erverted vision was the 
" Malta" getting up her steam to paddle me 
away from that land, whose marble tombs and 
rock-cut temples will continue to afford attrac- 
tions to the traveller when its Princes no longer 
exist sumptuously to entertain them, and whose 
towerino- mountains will still disclose fresh 
wonders when that last independent state which 
now extends along their base shall have been 
absorbed into one vast empire. 



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